Fleeing from the LAPD
by fivealive123
Summary: Set following the last heist of the first movie. How their world fell apart and how they could try to recover the things that mattered most
1. Chapter 1

It was clear after our last heist that the shit had really hit the fan. We couldn't do that anymore. But, it would have been nice to have the money that we were expecting from it. It had been a big load, full of televisions. But, it was clear that we had pushed our limits with that one. It was a shame because, with one exception, it had been a great rush. And, it had been easy money- easy…well easy is debatable. It had been fast money. Where else in one night could you land thousands of dollars worth of free merchandise?

After my car flipped, Leon came back and got me. It should have been Dom, but I wasn't too mad. I knew that Vince needed some serious help that Leon couldn't have given him. Leon was a good driver, but not that good. I didn't know what I'd done to myself, but I hurt. Leon put me in the backseat so I could spread out. We went and picked up Dom. He came over to me. I couldn't look him in the eye. I don't even remember what he said to me. I'm sure he told me he loved me. That was his "fix all" way of handling a problem with me. Well, either that or something a bit more physical, which I preferred.

I wished that I could have helped get Vince off that truck. I wished that I wasn't mad at Dom for making us go do this with him. We all thought it was a bad idea. You don't just keep rolling when one of your crewmembers was down. We should have spent that night going to look for Jesse. If we had, maybe things would have been different- for all of us. Different.

I was trying to pay attention to all the noise going on outside the car when Dom went to check on Vince. I looked out the window and saw Brian, Mia, and Dom standing over Vince. I had never been very religious, that was more Mia and Dom's thing, but I started praying. The next thing I knew there was a helicopter and Dom was yelling at Mia to get in the car.

The ride back to the Thermal was a quiet one. I guess it was inevitable that one of the truckers would have a gun at some point. We thought we were invincible. We could drive through anything. Clearly, that did not prove to be the case. We only had two cars stashed, the rest were still at Race Wars. Leon took one of the cars back to Race Wars to deal with the cars we had left there and the trailer. Mia drove one of the cars back to LA and Dom and I took the other one. I knew Dom wanted to talk.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking over at me as he sped down the highway.

"Am I okay?" I asked full of attitude. This had been the same response I had received from him a few nights ago. But, I couldn't take a fight right now. Usually, I loved fighting. It was what put the spark in our relationship. With Jesse being lost, Vince being flown by the police to the hospital, and my entire body aching, I just didn't have it in me. So I conceded. "I don't know."

"Do you want to stop at a hospital?" he asked.

"We can't go to a hospital. Jesse would be dead before I ever saw a doctor. And, Brian probably has the LAPD on our ass right now," I said, closing my eyes trying to fight off the pain.

"Leon is making arrangements with Hector to help get some of the cars back to the house so they don't get boosted. As soon as he makes it back, I think you and Leon should go to Mexico. I'll find Jesse and we'll meet you down there," he said, focusing on the road. I thinking looking at my face, despite the fact I was trying to hide the pain, it was clear and too much for him to handle.

I didn't respond. There was no point. Everything had just fallen apart. Odd, but I knew that it was starting to happen the minute we started the heist. I'm a pretty determined person, though, and I'll do anything for Dom. But, it's an interesting moment when you can exactly pinpoint the second in your life when everything goes to shit. Things were crumbling. Vince had been around forever. I couldn't imagine running off to Mexico without him. He was my brother, maybe not by blood, by oil runs thicker than blood.

We didn't say much else until we pulled up in the driveway. Dom and I were like that. Sometimes, we could talk for hours. I think I was the only person that Dom would have real conversations with. He was very reserved about that. It was as if talking, to him, was a sign of weakness. Dom could never show weakness. But then, neither could I. We understood that about each other.

Mia was already back when we pulled in. How she beat Dom back I will never know. Mia came running up to the car and opened my car door. She helped me out and we went into the house. Dom followed. I sat down on the sofa. Mia came running in with a first aid kit. I loved her constant need to take care of all of us. But, if she didn't it was certain that we would have be living in complete filth and eating much worse than we did.

She cleaned the cut on my face as Dom went into the other room and made some calls.

"Alright, thanks, I really owe you one, brother," he said, hanging up his phone.

"Where does it hurt Letty?" Dom said, walking over to me as Mia continued to pour peroxide over my cuts. I think she was punishing me for going in the first place.

"I wish you would have just listened to me, Dom," she said, glaring at him.

"Not now, Mia," he said with an annoyed laugh. "Have you heard from Jesse?"

"No," she said quietly.

"Well, we gotta find him. Listen, as soon as Leon gets back I want the three of you to make your way to the border. Here is some cash," he said handing Mia a very large stack of bills.

"I can't just run away, Dom. What about the store? What about the garage? I haven't done anything wrong," she said, putting the vicious bottle down and redirecting her attention towards him.

"You want to explain to the cops where we went? You want us to go to jail?" he asked rather rhetorically.

She just sighed and shook her head. I felt bad that she got wrapped up in all this. Mia tried so hard to make an honest living. And, to try to convince us to do the same thing. But, I'm not going to blame this all on Dom. We were just as into the heists as he was. It was a rush. The speed and the cash was impossible to pass up. It was like an addiction.

Just then I heard about three engines roar up in the driveway. Less than three seconds later, Leon busted through the door with Hector and his boy Juan.

"Safe and secure, brother," Leon said, tossing multiple sets of keys up to Dom.

"Thanks for your help guys. Listen, I don't think this is really a place you want to be hangin' around right now," Dom said to Hector and Juan.

"I hear that, brother. Listen, take care of yourself," he said, turning around and leaving.

"How you doin' Letty?" Leon asked. I looked up at him and then looked down. I didn't feel like talking.

"Alright, Dom, what's the plan brother?" Leon asked. He looked like he was ready to get in a fight.

"You got to take Letty and Mia and get out of here. Go down to the border and I'll find Jesse and meet you down there," he explained.

"You sure?" he asked. Leon was never one to go against what Dominic said. He knew how much Dom cared about Mia and I. But, he knew asking was pointless. Dom never took things back. He didn't speak unless it meant something.

"Yeah," was all he said to that. "And, you need to roll now before the cops bust in here."

"I'm not going anywhere, Dom. I'll go but only after we find Jesse," Mia insisted.

"Mia, don't push me on this one," he said, anger starting to flare up in his voice. But, she wasn't backing down. She had a look of desperation in her eyes that I had only seen once or twice before.

"Fine," he said, "do what you gotta do. But, Leon you need to take Letty out of here."

"Gotcha," he said, picking up his keys to go.

"Hold on," Dom said walking over to me. He looked down at me, putting his hands on my arms. I looked up at him, the first time I'd looked in his eyes since before the heist. The way Dom looked at me, it was unlike the way he looked at anyone else. Despite all we had been through, all we put each other through; we knew that we were meant for each other. We had done enough to sabotage our own relationship, it was clear that nothing was going to break us apart. "That dream is going to come true, baby. It will just be you and me, none of the bullshit. Will you stand by me?"

He had asked me this question before. Two people as insecure as Dom and I needed constant reminders of affection. To some this would probably get annoying. To us, it was nice. I liked having someone need me to tell them how I felt. And, God knows I needed to hear it. This question made me think like it had not before. We had been through so much. Flashes of our life together started running through my head. I looked down at the floor trying to organize my thoughts. When I looked into Dom's eyes, I couldn't think, I just got lost. So, instead, I focused on the floor. I saw Dom as the badass little boy getting in fights with older guys just to prove himself. I saw him laughing and working on cars with his Dad and I. I saw him at his Dad's funeral. I saw all of our firsts, kiss, sex, etc. I saw him, saving me from my past and giving me the type of comfort I had never felt before. I saw him in his orange jumpsuit leaving for Lompoc. I saw him coming back. I saw him so stressed with finances it led him back into a life of crime. I was already too far in. Not having Dom would be like not having air. It wasn't an option. I would die without him. So, I finally gave him my answer.

TBC

----

AJ


	2. Chapter 2

"Always. Will you stand by me?" I asked. I felt desperate. It was one of those times when I knew what he would say. But, when you are waiting to hear an answer, one so important, you can feel it in the pit of your stomach. Of course, it may have just been a broken spleen or something at this point. But, I looked up into his eyes. When I said I got lost by looking in Dom's eyes, that was an understatement. In fact, when Dom and I were having a moment, it was like there was no one else in the room. I don't know if this was just the passion of our relationship or if it was because there were frequently so many other people around. But, for that few seconds, we were alone in the world.

"You know I will. No one else, baby. Just you and me, and always gonna be," he said. He sounded so genuine. So real. There were so many times that I heard Dom feeding bullshit to people that his words were transparent to me. These were real. And, despite all Dom's flaws, which were extensive, I knew at this point I was stuck with him forever. And, that made me smile. Had I felt like having any sense of humor, I may have ragged him for the rhyme he inadvertently just made. But, it just wasn't in me right now.

I nodded my head and accepted his kiss. I started to stand up. It hurt. He felt my arms quiver and helped me up to my feet. I got my balance and my mind was so jumbled with thoughts that, for a few seconds, I forgot about the pain. I started following Leon to the door. What had just happened? I think I was still in shock by the day's events.

"Wait, I don't want to leave my car to get impounded," I said, finally thinking with some clarity for the first time in what seemed like days- realistically it was just a few hours. It's strange how, sometimes, a few hours can be so uneventful. And, sometimes, it can alter your entire life.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Just ride with Leon. I won't let anything happen to your car," he said. I trusted him. Besides, he knew how important my car was to me. It was really the only possession I'd ever had that meant anything to me. And, Dom had a lot to do with that.

"Listen, we'll meet you in Tijuana, okay?" Leon suggested. This was the closest city over the border. I didn't know how the hospitals in Tijuana were. I was somewhat interested in seeing if they cured everything with Tequila or not. This was not exactly a medical procedure that I was opposed to. So, all in all, I was fine enough with it not to oppose the idea.

"Sounds good. Take care of her Leon," Dom said seriously, handing Leon the stack of money he tried to give to Mia.

"You know it brother, take care of yourself," he said, giving Dom a hug and holding open the door for me to follow.

"Be careful," I said, begging him with my eyes. He could read my eyes like no one else. Sometimes, I didn't have to say anything to him, just look, and he knew exactly how I felt. But, this required words.

"Wait," Mia said, running down the stairs. In all honestly, I hadn't really noticed that she'd left the room. I was too wrapped up in the moment. She handed Leon a bag. "It's clothes for you guys. I figured they may come in handy."

"Thanks, Mia, be careful. Don't let Dom do anything stupid," I said to her. I knew that Mia never really had any control over Dom's actions. But, she always liked to try. I figured that if I said something, it would give her a little bit more motivation to persist with him.

"I think it's too late for that," she said making an annoyed laughing sound.

With that, Leon and I left. Nothing else needed to be said. I knew that Dom would take care of Mia- at least he would in the best way he knew how. He wouldn't let her get hurt. I was somewhat glad to be leaving the wasp nest that I knew would be forming. And, as much as I worried about Jesse and Vince, I was really starting to hurt now. If Dom thought, seriously thought, that we needed to go to Mexico then we needed to go to Mexico.

It took just over two hours to drive the 135 miles to Tijuana. Leon and I didn't say much in that time. He had asked me if I was hungry, but I wasn't. And, after we got in the car, I didn't want to stop. I wanted to drive until we got there. The sooner we got there, the sooner I could see Dom and put this entire thing behind me. Of course, it would never be behind me. I knew that. But, at least it wouldn't be staring me in the face. I've had enough tragedy for one life. At this point, I wasn't opposed to just getting the hell out of dodge. I was so worried about Dom, though. I wasn't sure if I could handle him getting sent back to prison. If he went back now, he would do serious time. I couldn't think about it so I just stared out the window and tried to breath through the pain.

When we crossed the border at San Ysidro they asked us if we were planning on staying more than 72 hours. Leon and I figured that it was a pretty safe bet, and got some cards. Besides, if the cops knew we were in Mexico they wouldn't really be looking for us. But, I knew I wanted to come back. I needed to know that I could come back- some day. I would stay with Dom in Mexico however long it took for the dust to settle. But, I wanted to come back. I was born in Mexico. I spent the first eight years of my life living between Mexico and California. I didn't have any positive experiences in Mexico.

When we pulled up to Hospital Angeles. It was an amazing hospital. Much better than what I remembered from my days in Mexico. But, I hadn't lived in Tijuana. Leon and I had to fill out a ton of paperwork. Being American citizens and all, we had to get IIRC, essentially insurance, but it was pretty cheap. I finally got in and saw a doctor. I never really used my Spanish much, even though I lived in LA, but it was like riding a bike. And, I think more people in Tijuana spoke English than in LA.

"Do you want me to come back with you?" Leon asked. It was entertaining, and sweet at the same time, to see Leon being quasi compassionate and caring. But, he was a good guy. And, he'd promised Dom to take care of me.

"I think I'll survive," I said. "Or, well, hopefully I will." I could handle it alone. I felt a lot more comfortable taking on unfamiliar situations alone. That was just my nature. Too many years of being forced to be independent way too early had instilled this type of autonomy in me.

The doctor had been a nice enough fellow. He was middle aged and seemed to know his stuff. He told me that I had a bruised sternum and gave me some prescriptions for some pretty interesting pain medications. He was nice in this regard. I think that this may have been one of the main differences between American doctors and Mexican doctors- prescriptions! With the amount of pain medicine he prescribed me, I wasn't going to be feeling anything for a while. I was okay with that. I'd felt enough this past day to last me for a while.

I went to the waiting room and found Leon. He had fallen asleep. I guess the adrenaline of the day had finally taken its toll on him. I told him about the medicine and we headed to the hospital pharmacy.

"Have you heard from Dom," I asked, as we walked down the hospital corridors.

"No, not yet. But, I'm sure he's fine," Leon said. By the tone of his voice, I wasn't convinced. It had been about five hours since we left Dom's house. It was pushing four o'clock. I started to feel concerned. If they had arrested Dom surely Mia would have called. I couldn't imagine what they would arrest Mia for. Brian had ended up being an ass, but he was too infatuated with her to see her behind bars.

We made it to the pharmacy. I gave them the prescriptions and showed them the IIRC card. They handed me six bottles.

"Wow," Leon said, enamored with the medication they gave me. "I wish I would have bruised me sternum."

Just then, his phone rang.

TBC

---

AJ


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello," Leon said. "Mia, what's goin'…wait, slow down. What happened?" he said. I could hear panic in his voice. My stomach felt like it just fell out of my body. Something had happened. And, if it wasn't Mia, it had to be Dom or Jesse. If something happened to Dom, I didn't know how I would carry on. I had too much wrapped up in our relationship. He was my connection to the team. He was the glue that held the family together. Things were already falling apart. If we lost the glue there would be no hope for any of us.

"Oh God, is he okay?" Leon asked her. "Calm down, Mia. I can't understand what you're staying. What did the doctor say?"

I was frozen. My heart sank. I forgot all about my pain. My heart hurt too badly.

"Do you want us to come back?" he asked. I begged she would say yes. I had no clue what was going on but I knew that I couldn't sit idly by and watch my life fall apart.

"What happened with Dom?" he said. I strained my ear. I could hear her talking but I couldn't make out anything she was saying. She sounded like Charlie Brown's parents.

"And Brian?" he added.

Oh no! He was in jail. I knew he was. He was going to take the wrap for all of us. I had to sit down.

"Uh huh," he said, a couple of times. It seemed like this was the longest phone conversation ever. "How's Vince?"

I was so antsy that I could not handle it anymore. I ran into the Girls bathroom. I turned the cold water on and splashed some on my face. My hands were shaking. I was close to breaking down but I had to stop myself. Regardless of what happened, I never cried. I think I'd used them all up in my childhood and early adolescents. People say that you always have more tears to cry. They must have pretty plush lives.

I splashed my face one more time and wiped it off in my shirt- there were no paper towels. I shook my hands to try and get a grip on the shaking. I walked to the door. I didn't want to go back outside though. Maybe if I stayed in the bathroom I'd never actually have to face the truth- reality. I tried to reach for the door handle but my arm felt too heavy. Then, I felt so nauseated. Luckily, I was in the bathroom. I ran into the closest stall. I couldn't remember that last time

I'd eaten. But, I still got to see it again. I felt a lot better afterwards. I was able to peel myself off the floor. I reached for the door handle and saw Leon standing there. I didn't say anything. I knew I would find out.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"What did Mia say?" I blurted out. I meant to just say yes. Odd how that works sometimes. I didn't even realize I said anything until after it was too late. I'd asked and he was going to tell me. I was scared to hear. My heart started racing and I felt my whole body ache again. It hurt to breath.

"Let's go somewhere else and talk about it," he said leading me back down the corridor. I knew it had to be bad. I felt like I was being led to the guillotine. We stepped out the doors of the hospital. It was still very bright. It was hot. I felt the cool air of the hospital brush by my back as the doors closed behind us. We walked across the parking lot to Leon's car. The car handle was hot. I stepped in and felt the humidity that had built up in the car since we'd been in the hospital.

He cranked the engine and I heard it roar. I had no idea where we were going to go. I didn't know anywhere in Tijuana. And, I was pretty sure that Leon didn't either. I didn't want to ask. I didn't want to accidentally say anything else I would regret. It was best not to talk. But, without talking, thoughts ran through my head. I imagined all worse case scenarios. Vince and Jesse were dead. Dom had been arrested. Or, maybe Dom was dead too. Dom would not go down without a fight and the LAPD had no problem shooting people.

We had gone a few miles with complete silence. I think Leon didn't want to tell me just as much as I didn't want to hear. Leon pulled into a parking lot by a very large sign marking the Playas de Tijuana (beaches of Tijuana). I looked out. The beach was crowded. People were having a lot of fun. I always loved the beach. I guess if I was going to have to get some bad news, it may as well be somewhere relaxing. Of course, this could also be a pretty good way to ensure that I would never really like beaches anymore.

I opened the car door and stepped out. I could smell the beach. We walked onto the sand. I took off my shoes and felt the hot sand on my feet. I followed Leon as we walked along the shore. I looked at people's faces as we passed. They all seemed like they didn't have a care in the world. I have never really liked very many people who acted like that. I think it was jealousy, mainly, but, at this moment more than any other, I would have loved to be them. I had so many cares that I felt like I could just collapse. Leon finally stopped and we just sat there in the sand.

"Jesse got shot," he started. "Brian came back to Dom's house not long after we left. He was arguing with Brian when Tran and his cousin drove by. They fired shots. They messed up Jesse's car really badly and shot him twice. Luckily, Jesse was standing behind his car or he would have died on the scene. Brian and Dom both went after them. Mia hasn't seen either one of them since."

I was speechless. I was stunned. I figured that Leon wouldn't have pulled me so far out to tell me good news. But, I wanted to hope. That was definitely shot to shit now.

"Mia called the ambulance," he continued. "They got there and she followed them to the hospital. They wouldn't let her ride in with him, though. They said that he has lost a lot of blood and they wouldn't really be able to know if he was going to make it until the morning. Vince is in the ICU in critical condition. I want to kick myself for saying this, but it is a good thing Brian was there."

I couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. 'It's a good thing Brian was there.' He had to be joking. Ever since Brian came around everything had gone wrong. He had unraveled everything about my life that I held most dear. I gave an exasperated sigh.

"Letty, I know what you're thinking. And blaming Brian for this is an easy fix. But, he had nothing to do with Vince getting hurt. And if he hadn't been able to call that helicopter there's no way that Vince would have lived. Damn, that would have killed Dom. It would have killed us all but just think how responsible Dom probably feels for all the shit that went down. He was the only one of us that wanted to do it," he continued. I had to stop listening. I wasn't going to blame Dom. I couldn't blame Dom. Any hard feelings that I had towards Dom for what had happened were long gone. If he were there, next to me, being healthy and free from any legal complications, I probably would have let him have it. But, that wasn't the case. And I wasn't going to blame him. I was going to worry about him.

TBC

---

AJ


	4. Chapter 4

"Let you gotta say something. You've said 'bout two things to me since we left LA hours ago. And, I'm pretty sure you didn't even mean to ask about the conversation with Mia. You gotta give me something here. What? What are you thinking?" Leon said. He didn't sound frustrated, more concerned. All and all, Leon was a good guy.

I just sighed again. Say something…I didn't know what to say. Nothing that I would say was going to make any difference one way or another. Talking usually just got people in trouble. And, granted, I knew that it was just Leon. But, I though that maybe if I just shut myself off enough, completely closed down, I could somehow numb myself to the situation. Maybe people would forget that anything had happened if no one talked about it. But, now he wanted a response. I guess I could understand why.

"Did you grow up at the beach, Leon?" I asked. I obviously just wanted to change the subject. I tried to take in a deep breath of the salt air but it hurt too badly to breath. The broken sternum really just seemed to make me feel like I was being kicked while I was down.

"What?" he asked confused. He clearly did not understand how this question pertained to what we were talking about. But, I guess he figured that at least he got me talking because he went on. "Nah, actually, not really. I grew up in Sacramento. But I love the beach. Did you?"

"For the most part. And, even when I was little I used to runaway to the beach," I disclosed. I realized that I had talked to Leon a lot. But, we had never really had conversations about our past. Granted, this was not the time that I wanted to disclose all the skeletons in my closet. But, it was all I could think of to say.

"Old habits are hard to break, I guess," he said somewhat chuckling.

"Yeah, I guess so," I added, still struggling just to respond.

"Do you still hurt?" he asked. I guess he also was fine with switching gears a little bit.

"Yeah, pretty bad actually," I said. And it was true. The longer I sat in the sand the more intense the pain was getting. Perhaps that was why they gave me the pain medication, which I hadn't even considered taking yet. I knew that if I wanted to be numb I could have just popped some of those Vicodin or whatever the hell was in all those bottles. But that didn't seem like the best idea in this circumstance. I needed to be able to handle stuff. And, I was too busy developing an emotional numbing to worry about a physical one.

"What do you think about all this?" he pulled me back in. I guess I was wrong about the 'switching gears' thing. Damn, this meant I'd actually have to answer this time.

How _did_ I feel? How did I want to tell Leon I was feeling? These would not necessarily be the same thing. Actually, I knew I wasn't going to try to verbalize all that was going on inside right now. I wanted to avoid the question. But, I'd already done that. I didn't want to piss Leon off. He was the only person I had right now. Never in a million years would I have thought the team would come down to Leon and I. I sat up a little further in the sand and crossed my arms over my legs. This had been a very long day. I felt tired. And, I felt…alone. I couldn't tell Leon that. He was doing his best to be a good friend to me right now. Without Dom, though, I did feel alone. I didn't even know where he was or how he was.

"I guess I'm just…worried," I finally said. That was true. I was damn worried.

Leon shook his head in agreement. "I am too. But you gotta believe that…" he started to say but I interrupted him mid sentence.  
"Please, don't say that everything is gonna be okay. I can't take that after school special bullshit right now," I said. I wasn't trying to be mean. But, it probably would have done me in to hear him start going off on some stereotypical, catch phrases right now. I was trying to get a firm grasp of everything and that would have been the biggest hindrance I could imagine. Leon was my realistic touchstone right now. He had to keep me grounded so I didn't jump back in my shell for good.

"Oh, I wasn't. And, clearly, Letty, everything is not okay. It's probably not going to be okay," he said just looking straight ahead at the ocean.

I was probably just getting irritated with the world at this point because suddenly the world 'okay' started to kind of bug me. Things were never really okay, at least not in my life. Things were either good or bad, black or white. I never met gray. Maybe that is why this whole ordeal, the thought of losing everything, was affecting me so much. My life before I met Dom was bad, really bad. But then I met Dom and Mia and Vince and my life became good, really good. Then Jesse and Leon entered into the mix and it became even better. There has never been an 'okay' for me. I've either been happy or unhappy. And the only things that ever made my life good had just been swept out from under my feet in a single motion. Things would never be the same. How could they?

"But hey you can't just count them all as dead and say 'fuck the world' so soon. That's not fair to them," he said, completely calling me out at this point.

He was right. I had given up. I wasn't sitting around anxiously anticipating Dom's call. I had pretty much assumed his as either dead or behind bars. And, what if he was behind bars? It had happened before. I guess, given our lifestyle, it was ridiculous for me to have assumed it may never happen again. I would have to do the exact same thing I had done before- visit him…wait for him. Maybe one day we would all start living legitimately and we wouldn't have to worry about our lives falling apart. Of course, oddly enough, that thought had never really crossed my mind until now. I was never really one to look too far ahead in the future. I was afraid that if I got too excited about what could happen I would just be disappointed.

"I know but what am I supposed to do now," I said. If they were all dead, and I stopped myself. There I went again, just like he'd said. I was just so scared of having nothing.

"You're talkin' like you ain't got no option, Letty. But, you do. Dom made sure of that. So do I. That's why we're here. That's why he got us out," Leon stated.

"Hm," I laughed as much as I could with my sternum being so disagreeable, "Mexico…land of opportunity. Ironic."

Leon laughed the first thing that could possibly be construed as a laugh all day. It was nice to hear. It sounded normal. And then I heard another familiar sound. Leon's cell phone was ringing. He practically jumped. I guess he was pretty deep in thought in between all the dialogue as well. He rushed so quickly to get it out of his pocket. He looked at the screen.

"I don't know this number. It's not an LA number," he said looking at me, supposedly expecting me to advise him- yeah, like I was really one to give advice right now.

"Answer it!" I said, rather loudly. I pretty much yelled this at him. "I don't think the cops typically call to see if you'll meet up with them. Besides, we're in Tijuana. I think we're good."

TBC

---

AJ


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **Adding these to all my stories because I heard that it may be a good idea. Were you unaware that I was the owner of the fast and the furious? Just kidding, I'm not. I own nothing. That includes major motion pictures - shockingly enough. (If I'd owned it Letty wouldn't have died). So let's just have fun, AJ

"Hello?" Leon said, but in more of a question format.

"Dude, Dom, where you at brother?" he said frantically, standing up as if he were looking for him amidst a party crowd.

My heart started racing. Dom! Clearly, he was alive. Dead men don't call. That was a good sign. I started getting very jittery and nervous. And then, without evening thinking, I jumped up. I immediately snatched the phone right out of Leon's hands. Dom was in mid conversation.

"…and then he just threw me the keys and…," Dom was saying.

"Dom, where are you?" I asked, not being able to contain my panic any longer. I felt a flood of released emotions at this point. I couldn't identify anything but relief. And, I felt a lot of relief.

"Letty? Is that you? Oh, God, baby how are you?" he asked. I could tell that his voice was also full of panic and relief. It is odd when those two emotions mix. It leaves a person feeling only moment-by-moment. The surge of emotions is overwhelming and removes all clarity.

"I'm fine," I somewhat lied. "Where are you?" I needed an answer. I needed him.

"I'm on my way. I tried to get out as fast as I could, trust me. The cops, shit, I don't know. They can't be far behind. But, I had to call. I had to find out how you were doing. Where are you guys?" he asked. His words were running together he was talking so fast. And, I could picture him. He was stressed. He was probably standing at a pay phone rubbing his head. That was a telltale sign that he was stressed.

"We're on the beach. Playas de Tijuana, right by the sign actually. Are you still in California?" I said, concerned. He needed to get out of the states before it was too late. He felt so close. Hearing his voice. She closed her eyes. She could seem them together having a casual conversation in the garage. But, he was only on the phone. He was still so far away. I felt like I could reach out and touch him. I couldn't. He could be anywhere.

"I'm just outside of Escondido," he said. "It's just about 40 miles. But, I had to call before I got into Mexico. I've been thinking about you all day. God, I'm sorry Letty."

"It's cool. Just get here. Where do you want us to meet you?" I asked. When he got here, after I settled down, I was sure that we would talk about it- plenty. But, right now discussing the past was not important to me. I wanted to discuss the present. I needed, like he did, to make sure that the person I loved most in this world was safe.

"Just stay where you are. I'll come find you," he said.

"And Dom?" I asked hoping to catch him before he hung up.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Do you have my car?" I asked and then a smile broke on my face. For some reason this also became very important to me. The car was the most sentimental thing I had. It was what had given me freedom from my past. It assured me that I would always be able to escape from my future. And, looking back in retrospect, it was how Dom and I became Dom and I.

He just laughed and said, "Of course, I promised. But, you owe me because it was quite the maneuver to get that shit out of town."

"Deal. I love you," I said.

"I love you too," he said and hung up. Every other problem that I had for the moment washed away with the waves. I let out an enormous sigh. 40 miles. For Dominic, I estimated, that would take around 10-15 minutes. With the cops on his tail, maybe not quite that long. After he was with me I would know that everything would be alright. Well, maybe not alright, but better. However, with that sigh came the surge of physical pain that my euphoric state had been masking.

"Ow," I said inadvertently. I didn't want to let on to Leon that I hurt- physically or emotionally. However, I think I was doing a pretty poor job of hiding both.

"Are you okay?" Leon said helping me to sit back down in the sand.

"Yeah, no, I'm cool," I lied. The pain in my eyes completely gave me away.

"Do you want me to go get some of that stuff the doctor gave you?" he asked. I knew he was dying to hear about Dom. So, it was pretty amazing that he was willing to help me out before even asking.

"No, no, I'll be fine," I said. This may have been the truth. I would just have to ride it out and see. I think I just refused to let the pain leave me. I needed to feel, even still. Dom was coming back but Vince and Jesse were still in the hospital. For some reason, I thought that if I hurt enough it would compensate for the fact that I wasn't there to help them.

"Well can I have one then?" Leon asked.

I had never known Leon to be much of a pill popper. Most of the team stayed away from drugs. We got high off the chase and the rush of adrenaline. That was our drug. Winning. Speeding. And, it was addictive. We were junkies.

"If you want," I said looking at him curiously.

"You may want to feel it all, Let, but I sure don't," Leon said. I still hadn't asked him how he was holding up. And, given his previous statement I would venture a guess- not very well. "I'll be right back."

He stood up and walked back towards the direction of the car. I didn't watch him. I just stared ahead at the ocean. I closed my eyes. Was this a dream? I opened them slowly and looked around. Nope. My chest was throbbing at this point. I lifted my knees and leaned my chest into them. This helped a little bit. I wish Dom were here. He always had a way of making me feel better. I sat there for a minute, thinking about nothing but how bad the pain was. Before today, I had rarely noticed my sternum. Today, it was making itself very well known.

Leon walked back holding a medicine bottle and looking at it perplexed. He was also holding two Coronas. He popped both the tops and handed me one. He sat back down in the sand still staring at the bottle. He opened the lid and pulled out one of the pills.

"What is that?" I asked, looking at the bottle.

"Acetaminophen," he said, the pronunciation slow and shaky. "I don't really know. Prescriptions aren't really my style," he said throwing the pill into his mouth and taking a swig of the beer.

"Clearly," I joked. We both shared a small laugh with this. "How are you holding up?"

"Fantastic," he said with completely sarcasm and blatantly lied. "What did Dom say?"

"Not much. He's about 40 miles, said he'll meet us here. He has my car," I said giving him the run down.

"Oh good, your car, definitely my main concern," he joked.

I gave him a slight punch in the side with as much strength a I could muster. He just smiled back. I took a sip of my beer. My attitude had calmed immensely since I talked to Dom. For that I was thankful. I had gotten so tense. But, I didn't want to press Leon if he didn't want to talk anymore about the way he felt about the day. If anyone understood the importance of bottling up emotions it was me. But then he just started.

"I don't understand how we got here. Things were just fine, totally normal. We didn't even really need the money. But, I don't think it was just the heist that brought us here. I guess we've been in a downward slope for a while," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, for clarification.

"Well everyone was getting so irritable to each other. And, before you even start, I don't think it was Brian. I'm not trying to take the buster's back. But, we were having problems long before he entered the mix," Leon explained.

I just shook my head. I knew he was right. Everyone had started fighting with each other. Things had actually been better between all the team members before we had enough money stored away to be comfortable. I think, before, we were all working together to support each other. When things to go too easy it became more of a competition. Dom and I were certainly fighting more than we ever had in the past. Sometimes it takes a lot of tragedy to help you realize how much everything means to you. If you would have asked me last week if I could have lived without Dom I would have given some smartass version of a 'yes'. But, now, I realized that it would never be possible. He was my strength, my fortress. It wasn't his house that was the fort, it was him.

We both just sat there in silence drinking our beers. The sun started getting lower in the sky. The air was cooling off. But the wonderfully cool beach breeze still raced through my hair. I buried my feet further in the sand. We were both so pensive that there were no words. That is until I heard the best sound I had heard in a long time.

"What, no beer for me?"

I knew it as soon as the first syllable came out of his mouth. It was Dom. Finally…

TBC

---

AJ


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** Yes, still applicable, see previous chapter…AJ

I jumped up, completely ignoring the pain that was surging through my body with such intensity that it actually took the breath out of me for a second. I didn't let on to anyone, though. This moment was too precious to waste. It is one those moment that I knew, regardless of how hard I tried, I would remember for the rest of my life. I wouldn't remember the conversations that transpired between Leon and I minutes earlier. But, I would remember Dom. Standing there. His mere presence was saving me once again from myself. I would remember this feeling of complete and utter relief that flowed through my body.

I jumped on him. He was surprised at my quick reaction. I wrapped my legs around his waist and our eyes locked. Nothing mattered. Everything was gone. Here we were, on the beach, just like he had promised. Granted, different circumstances, very different. But, at that moment, we were just Dom and Letty on a beach. The beach had been our original stomping ground. It felt right, him holding me, the salt air rushing through my hair. I relished in this moment. I didn't want it to escape me. I wanted to breath in every single second. We kissed. It was long, passionate. He held on to me so tight. I did not ever want to let this moment go. When we finally decided to come up for air, more his decision than mine, I just stared at him. I didn't want to take my eyes off of him. I was so afraid that he would disappear. I could not take feeling empty anymore. I needed the fulfillment that only came with Dom's touch, his look, his love. That was when I realized that I was more addicted to him than the adrenaline that had come with street racing. He was my drug.

"So, are you hurt?" he asked with probably as much concern as I had ever heard Dom muster up.

"No, I'm okay," I said still completely locked in my trance and not even thinking about my response.

"Letty, you aren't okay," Leon interjected with a slight laugh. "She has a bruised sternum, among other things. Maybe you can get more out of her."

"Oh my god! What can I do?" Dom said setting me down very gently.

"It's okay. Everything is okay," I said. My mind was fuzzy. I liked this kind of fuzzy. For once I was not concerned with Vince. I was not concerned with Jesse or Mia. This may have been selfish of me. But, I was able to feel complete again, if only for a few seconds. I was nothing without him. I couldn't subsist without him. Now that Dom was here I knew things would get better. They always did. Dom was my life vest. He held me up when the rest of the world was trying to drown me.

"Lett, that sounds pretty serious. What did the doctor say?" he said, pressing me on the subject. I didn't want to talk about it. For this moment, I didn't want to think about the past. I wanted to bask in the present. But, I wanted to answer him because he sounded desperate.

"It's okay. He gave me some…pills, I don't know. But, I'm fine. Leon took one though," I said, somewhat laughing but mainly transferring the conversation over to Leon. There would be plenty of time for us to talk later. This was not that time. And, I knew that Dom knew what I was trying to do. He always did. He didn't press me any further.

"How are they treating you, brother?" Dom joked, smiling at Leon and giving him a hug.

"Starting to get a lot better!" he said with more enthusiasm than I had heard all day. Apparently whatever pill he took mixed with the beer he chugged was helping to alter his mood. "I love Mexican doctors!" He actually sounded a bit drunk at this point. That was amusing to Dom and I and we both laughed.

"Alright, cool," Dom said.

I could feel all the stress of the day starting to leave the group. There was plenty to worry about. But, one thing at a time. We could not internalize it all right now. It would be too overwhelming.

"So, I'm gonna get another beer. You guys want one?" Leon asked standing up, slightly wobbly. I just smiled. I looked up at Leon and nodded my head. I was glad that he was going to leave us alone for a few minutes. He stuck one finger up in the air, as if counting and taking orders, and looked at Dom.

"Sure, bring me two, I need to catch up," he said.

"Three, okay. Can do," he said strutting away towards whatever beach bar he had found the original beers at.

"I'm glad you're here," I said, leaning back against Dom and putting my head against his shoulder.

"I was so worried about you," he said wrapping his arms around me. This sent a slight chill up my spine.

"The feeling was mutual," I said.

"God, Letty, I'm so sorry," he started. I interrupted him.

"Can we not right now?" I asked. "We can definitely talk about it later. But, let's just enjoy…this, right now."

He didn't respond but sighed heavily. He picked up one of his hands and touched my chin. He pulled my head in the direction of his lips. We started kissing again, this time lighter and sweeter. We were just enjoying being near each other. When we kissed each other, that became the focus. It felt amazing to avert my focus towards him. My mind centered on his lips and how they felt against my own. His touch, soft and gentle against my cheek.

A few minutes later, Leon stumbled back over, plopping back into the sand with a handful of beers.

"Wow, three times seven," I exaggerated. However, he did have eight beers. It was pretty impressive that he was able to hold that many without spilling any.

"Four for you," he said, handing a handful to Dom. "Three for you." I reached out and grabbed what he gave me. "One for me."

"I really only asked for one," I said looking at him slightly confused. Were the pills really that strong?

"Yeah…they were on sale," he said. It was probably a lie but who wanted to argue right now?

Dom and I looked at each other and just laughed. The sun was starting to go down right now. We slowly sipped our beers and watched the sunset. He wrapped one of his hands intricately in my own. I held tight to his grip. He wasn't getting away again. Every so often he would kiss my neck. It felt amazing. I was finally starting to relax.

Leon started talking about the beach, girls, and some other things. I wasn't listening though. I was too focused. I could feel the warmth of Dominic behind me. His head, resting so tenderly on my right shoulder. I rested my cheek against his. There was no one else around us. Everything was gone. I watched the surf break. The tide started to rise and raced up to touch the tips of my toes. It felt warm. It left a dark stain on the sand that quickly dried up. I was hoping that was how this situation would be- a dark stain that would quickly dry up and leave no trace. I doubted that we would be that lucky. But, for this moment, I thought it may be possible. The water got higher and higher. Eventually, it was getting so high that we would get soaked if we didn't move back.

"Um, so where are we staying tonight?" Leon asked. I hadn't even thought that far ahead.

"I got something lined up about five or six miles south," Dom said casually. I didn't even want to ask.

We stood up and headed for the car. Dom took my hand and led me towards the parking area. That was when I saw it, my car, sitting in the parking lot. I pulled him back and we locked lips. I loved him for bringing my car.

"Yeah, I thought you'd like that," he said with a devilish grin. "But, I told you, you owe me," that same bad-boy grin permanently implanted on his face. "Leon, why don't you just ride with me, man. We'll grab your car tomorrow."

Clearly, Leon was in no state to drive. I didn't really feel up for it either. So, we all got into my car. Dom revved the engine. She sounded pretty. And we headed for this mystery location. I rolled down my window and let the air overtake me. Surely, things had to get better at this point. Even though Dom was shifting, he reached over and grabbed my left hand.

TBC

---

AJ


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't claim a thing, renounce all responsibility…AJ

After a few minutes of driving along the streets of Mexico, something that brought mixed emotions to the pit of my stomach, we pulled up to a house. I had never seen this house before in my life. It was really odd that Dom just happened to know of a house outside Tijuana that we could stay in. But, I guess after all the shit we had just endured, something good was bound to happen. He pulled the car through the yard and parked behind the house. I guess he was a little paranoid.

I reached over and grabbed the door handle. As I stood up, I couldn't help but flinch with the pain. This was getting very old. Leon got out behind me, still shaky on his feet but not falling down.

"Whose house?" Leon asked following Dominic to the door.

"Um, Hector's ex-girlfriends sisters, or something like that," he said, looking up and trying to recall.

"Naturally, because we're such good friends with them," Leon mocked.

"Of course," Dom shrugged and got the key out of his pocket.

I just shook my head and walked past the guys into the house. I found the first thing that resembled furniture and immediately crashed down onto it.

"What time is it?" I asked, closing my eyes.

"Time for you to get a watch," Leon said, laughing.

"Wow, I haven't heard that joke since about 1992, thanks asshole," I said, a little annoyed.

"What can I say? I'm nostalgic," he replied laughing. He was rather giddy.

I looked around for a clock. There was not one to be found. "Gah, who doesn't own a clock?" I said laying back down.

"Apparently you," Leon continued.  
"Alright Leon, got it. Shut the fuck up," I said. It was either tell him or punch him and I was really tired.

Leon walked over to the window. He was just standing there looking out.

"So what now?" he asked, looking over at Dom who was carrying bags inside.

"I guess we just wait and see what happens. Mia's gonna call whenever she knows anything," Dom said, coming and sitting down beside me.

I laid my legs across his lap and tried to get comfortable despite the pain. He started rubbing my feet and it felt nice. It was at this point that I realized I had left my shoes at the beach. But, it was hard to care about something that small when you had so many other things going on. Screw it, I never liked wearing shoes anyway.

Leon left the room. I had no clue where he was going but at least he wasn't throwing out corny jokes about watches. I looked up and Dom was staring at me. I could see so much hurt and pain I his eyes. It reminded me of after he attacked Linder. He looked desperate. He did not show emotion in any part of his face except for his eyes.

"Hi," he said, still staring.

"Hi," I replied. I wanted to say something, to ask him how he was doing. Ask him for more details about the events that had transpired. I couldn't seem to muster the words. I was recognizing this as a theme for me today.

"Do you still hurt?" he asked.

"No," I lied.

"Liar," he said, calling me out.

"Yeah, I actually hurt really badly," I finally admitted.

"Why don't you take some of that shit the doctors gave you?" he asked, starting to get up. I held him down with my feet.

"I don't want to," I said, shaking my head in obstinacy.

"Letty, this is my fault, not yours. You don't have to take on all the pain for everyone," he said, stopping rubbing my feet and just looking at me. He knew that I wanted to hurt, like it would fix something. He had known. Regardless of how much I didn't say, he always knew exactly what I was trying to do. He had for years. That is why I loved him. Sometimes, that was why I hated him. But, regardless, that was why I always felt so strongly towards him.

"I have to feel something right now," I retorted.

"I think you've probably felt enough for one day," he said, moving my legs and standing up. He reached out for my hand and said, "let's go to bed. Maybe tomorrow will be better."

I stood up. It hurt. I decided that I was fed up with the pain. I looked on the counter and saw the prescriptions of mine that Dom had grabbed from the car. I walked over to the counter and looked at the bottles. I didn't have any experience with pills except Advil. None of these said Advil. I read the labels and decided on one. I took it and let Dom lead me into one of the bedrooms. I wondered how long it would take to work? I started turning down the bedspread and Dom left. This confused me slightly until he entered back into the room with a beer. Where he had gotten a beer from, I didn't know. It probably came with the house. He handed it to me and I took a few big sips. We both sat on the bed, passing it back and forth. However, considering it was only one beer, it did not take very long to finish. We just sat in silence. I was afraid to speak. I didn't want to say too much so I decided to say too little.

But, feeling a little less, I started thinking about what he had just said. 'Maybe tomorrow will be better'. I realized that things could always get worse but a day would be pretty hard pressed to be worse. I hadn't felt this much emotion in one day since Dom's father passed away, or maybe I never had. I wasn't a fan.

"Tomorrow's got to be better," I said looking over at him and placing my head on his shoulder.

"It will be. Tomorrows have always been better for us than todays," he said.

"Fucking horizon days," I sighed.

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

"You know, the horizon moves further back as you get closer to it. Just like tomorrow," I said, just staring at the wall across the room.

"I'm really sorry," Dom said, lifting up my chin so that I was looking into his eyes, his heart, his soul.

"Why? It's not like you planned for this to happen," I said, placing my hand on his cheek.

"But, you guys didn't want to do it. You did it because I asked you to," he admitted, leaning back.

"Dom you can't make any of us do anything that we don't want to do. Never could. Not trying to kill you ego, but that's just the truth. And _we_ did this, not just you. If anyone is going to take credit, we all have to. Any of us could have turned away, we didn't. 'There's no I in team', Dom," I said quoting a motivational poster I saw on the wall of my school one time. I tried to say this last part with a straight face, but I just couldn't.

He just looked at me and smiled. "Are you going to be that little kitten that just holds on to the tree with one paw?" he mocked.

"Hey, I'm hangin' in there," I said. We had neither one spent much time in school doing academic work. But, the posters were always pretty amusing. Who knew they would ever come in handy?

He continued to smile. But, suddenly a grave look came over his face once again.

"But, I pushed you guys. I wouldn't listen when you said not to go," he said sadly.

"Maybe you'll learn to listen to me from now on," I said curtly. "Look, you didn't want me to take on all the pain, well you can't either. We're adults, all of us. We make our own choices. We knew there was a risk involved from the beginning. And, shit, we thought the risks did not outweigh the gains. Apparently we were wrong. And I think we all fucked up. But we can't change anything. And sitting there, blaming yourself, putting it all on your shoulders, it isn't going to do anything but kill you inside," I said wrapping my arm around his bruised up stomach. "Can we just focus on the good stuff that happened in the desert? Just until we find out exactly how bad this shit really is."

Having Dom around always made me think of things more positively. He forced me to see the best parts of myself, of life.

"Besides the fact that the whole team was together, what good happened?" he asked with a flare of sarcasm.

"Well I smoked some asshole and won 2 grand. And, you kicked Tran's ass. Those both sound pretty good to me," I looked up at him and smiled.

"I love you," he said.

"I know. I'm pretty lovable," I said, contently, nestling down into him.

"Hey!" he said, nudging me slightly.

"What?" I laughed.

He just smiled, shook his head, and gave me a kiss.

"I love you too," I finally caved.

We didn't say anything else. We just fell asleep. We awoke next morning to Leon coming in the room.

"Dom, Mia's on the phone," he said, shaking Dom fervently.

TBC

---

AJ


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **I don't own The Fast and the Furious (or any sequel regardless of how many articles they leave out of the title). I also don't own Hootie and the Blowfish- nor am I knocking them or any avid Hootie and the Blowfish fan- (I owned "Cracked Rear View" back in the day) so more power to you, rock on…AJ

"Mia!" Dom said, groggy but anxious. "What's going on?"

Leon and I sat there completely on edge while he had a conversation with Mia. He let on absolutely nothing about what she said. Leon had done this the day before, it was still annoying. Finally, he hung up the phone. I had gotten so engrained in thinking how annoying it was when people did not share crucial conversations with you until they were finished that I did not even notice that he had finished talking with her until he started explaining the situation in LA.

"Vince is getting transferred to the hospital in Tijuana. The one you went to, I guess, Letty. There has not been any sign of the cops yet. But, she doesn't know what happened with Brian. She thought it would be better if Vince were out of the country though and I think it's a good idea. He was stabilized yesterday afternoon and Mia lied, believe it or not. She fed the doctors or nurses or whomever some bullshit and convinced them that Vince wouldn't get better away from his family," he said, smiling. Mia! You had to love her. She was going to keep us all together if it killed, well, Vince apparently.

"And Jesse?" I asked.

"Jesse is still in critical condition. They don't really know anything more than they knew yesterday. They've given him more blood and stuff. But, I don't know. She's coming down with Vince sometime today. She said that she'd call when she got here. But, she's not going to stay. She's going to go up and stay with Jesse," he finished.

"When are they leaving LA?" Leon asked.

"I am not really sure. I guess sometime this morning. So they'll probably be here this afternoon. I don't know what all is involved in a hospital transfer to Mexico," Dom said.

I didn't know either. And, frankly, I would have been content to live my entire life and never know. Oh well, what doesn't kill Vince will just make him stronger.

We all just sat in silence for a few moments. I was starting to feel more and more relieved. Slowly, ever so slowly, things were starting to turn around. But, Jesse. I was really worried about Jesse. I couldn't believe that there was no way that I could go see him. And, Mia was coming down here. He was going to be all alone. The kid shouldn't be alone.

"So, you guys want to start drinking?" Leon asked. I was astounded.

"What the hell, Leon?" I asked flabbergasted.

"Jesus, I'm kidding!" Leon said throwing his hands up in surrender. "It was a joke. Chill out. I don't thinking drinking now would be the wisest course. But things are starting to finally turn around. This is good news. And, Jesse, he's a strong kid. He's going to be fine. I think we can breathe for a second."

Leon had always been pretty even-tempered. He was much more into decreasing the intensity of situations that anyone else in the team. I think he helped to even us all out sometimes. But, breathe? I tried to take his advice. I inhaled deeply. It didn't work out too well. My chest starting throbbing. Awesome suggestion. I guess those pills only work for a little while.

I got up and went into the kitchen. The same bottles were still sitting there untouched from the night before. I looked at them again and decided, just for the hell of it, to try a different one. Maybe I would run my own drug testing trial to see which was the most effective with the least adverse side effects. There was not a television, so needless to say there was not a Playstation, so I had to do something to entertain myself.

It did not take long for everyone to get antsy. We all got ready. There was not any food in the house. About an hour after we talked to Mia we were all sitting around in the living room staring at each other. It was pretty boring. My pain was subsiding, though, with was helpful. I realized that it was making me slightly less irritable. This was probably pleasant for those around me.

"This is pretty boring," Dom finally stated.

Leon shook his head in agreement. "You guys want to go ahead and head up to the hospital? We can be there when Vince and Mia get there. We can just watch TV in the waiting room till then," he suggested.

"Yeah," I said. That sure beat sitting here staring at the walls.

"I'll drop you by your car on the way and just follow you there. I don't know where the hospital is," Dom said, standing up and patting his pockets for his keys.

"Cool," Leon said, standing up and grabbing Dom's keys off the counter. "Think fast, brother," he said, tossing Dom's keys over to him. Dom looked up and caught them.

We all walked outside. It was hot and extremely humid. The air felt heavy and sticky. Even though it was still early, the sun was bright and beating down ruthlessly. We all got into the car. The seats were hot and burned my legs. Luckily, it didn't really hurt much thanks to experimental pill number 2.

No one said much in the car. I wondered what the guys were thinking, what they were feeling. But, I didn't ask. My head was tired of thinking. Every time I started thinking my mind immediately went to Jesse. I felt so guilty. I felt like I had abandoned him, thrown him to the wolves. I knew that he wouldn't get in trouble for the heist. But, it didn't change the fact that he didn't need to be in California all by himself. Jesse didn't do too well alone. He needed the support of the team. I guess none of us did too well alone, that was why we were a team.

We pulled back up to the beach and Leon got out and went over to his car. He started his engine and Dom began following him to the hospital. I hadn't been to a hospital in years before coming to Mexico. So far, it was turning into an everyday occurrence.

As we were driving, Dom reached over and grabbed my hand. He just decided to use his left hand to steer and shift, a very interested maneuver. I wasn't going to protest. Dom had never been much of a hand holder in the past. But it was really comforting to me right now to be able to hold on to something. It made the turmoil seem slightly less powerful.

"How you doing?" I finally asked him.

Dom didn't respond right away. But then he finally said, "little bit better. Do you really believe what you said last night?"

"Yeah," I said, looking over at him. He looked stoic, but I could tell that he was sad. I held onto his hand tighter.

"Good, that was cool," he said. I knew what he meant. I was glad that it had made him feel better. Then he added, completely out of left field, "That's cool you won that money in the desert," he said smiling. I just gave off something related to a laugh. It was cool. I had to agree.

We pulled up into the hospital parking lot beside Leon. We all went inside. It was slightly less depressing this time around. I followed the guys into a waiting room area with some televisions. They were all playing the same Spanish news channel. I was pretty sure that Leon's Spanish was limited to counting to 10, asking for a Corona, and saying that his name was Leon. But, I gave him the benefit of the doubt; maybe he had just been hiding bilingualism from us for the past 8 years or so. After we sat down, I noticed his face. He had not been hiding anything. He was pretty confused.

"What are they talking about?" he asked me.

I looked at the screen for a few minutes. "Oh my God! They're talking about the heists!" I said, jumping out of my seat.

Dom just laughed. He knew quite a bit more Spanish than Leon. "No they're not dude," he said just as Leon's face changed from confused to shock. Then it went from shock to amused.

"That was funny," Leon said facetiously.

"You should've let me go with it," I said hitting Dom in the arm.

"Oh, oops," he said.

"Why don't you go ask the nurse for the remote? I am sure that there are English channels somewhere," I said, motioning for the nurses' station.

"How do you say that?" he asked.

"Just say 'chupame el pito," I replied, really trying to keep a straight face.

Dom laughed again. He hesitated and gave me a knowing look. He shook his head and looked at Leon, "I wouldn't say that to them".

"Damn, Letty, stop," Leon said. "I don't know what you said but you're going to get me sent to jail. And, that would defeat the purpose of us being in Mexico."

"It wasn't that bad," I said, somewhat lying. I could have come up with something much more offensive but I haven't told someone off in Spanish in a while. I was rusty.

"I'll go get the remote," Dom laughed, rubbing my knee and walking off.

"I wouldn't have really let you go up there and say anything bad," I said, looking apologetically at Leon.

"Yes you would have," he smiled. "It's cool. I just know now that I can't rely on you for translations!"

"That's probably a good idea," I smiled back. I definitely would have let him go up there and say it. And, I would have enjoyed every minute of it.

Dom brought back the remote and handed it to Leon. I was surprised, for a few minutes things had been completely normal. We had acted the same way we would have acted if we were on vacation in Mexico instead of fleeing from the LAPD so our asses did wind up in jail. It gave me the glimpse of normalcy that I didn't think I was going to see for a long time.

The most interesting English channel was the 'Price is Right'. But that worked. We all watched it pretty intently for a little while.

"You know it's kind of a dick move to guess $1 over someone else's price," Leon commented.

"It's a dog-eat-dog world, bro," I said. Apparently Leon was getting more into the show than Dom and I.

We all sat there for a while longer until Dom spotted Mia coming into the waiting area.

"There you guys are. I've been trying to call you," she said in a very worried tone.

Leon pulled out his phone. "My phone's dead," he said confused.

"That's helpful," I said sarcastically.

"Sorry, when we were hurrying to get the hell out of town I didn't think 'oh, I need to locate my phone charger so that when I'm in a Tijuana hospital people can get in touch with me'," he said in a smart ass voice. I just laughed.

"Well Vince is up in room 203. They were hooking him up to everything when I left to try and get in touch with you. His arm is hurt pretty badly. But, they have bandaged up his bullet wound. He seems to be feeling a lot better," Mia explained.

We followed her up the stairs and down the hall to Vince's room. He was sitting in a very sterile looking white room wearing a hospital gown. He looked paler than usual and slightly scruffier. But, otherwise, he looked like Vince. He looked much better than I would have thought. He was a resilient guy, obviously.

"Nice dress," I laughed walking in and giving him hug.

"Thanks, brings out my eyes," he replied, hugging me back with his good arm, which was hooked up to an IV.

"How'd you break out of there?" Dom asked, walking up behind me.

"I think they just didn't want to listen to Mia bitch," Vince said. Mia hit him, not hard, but in an annoyed-Mia type of way. "Hey, what are you trying to do? Put me in the hospital?"

"I just insisted that the doctors might not always have the best advice on healing. Eventually, they listened," Mia stated adamantly.

"Well, you look like shit, brother," Dom said, giving Vince a hug.

"Well, I feel awesome. They've got me on some kind of pain drip shit. I'm trying to convince them to let me keep it. Maybe I'll just put Mia on it," he joked.

"You know, a thank you may be in order. You could be sitting in a prison hospital right now!" Mia said.

Vince smiled. "Thank you." She smiled back. I just looked at both of them. Interesting.

"Glad you're feeling better, man," Leon said, also hugging Vince.

Leon went over to the radio in the room. He turned in on and started scrolling through channels. It was, shockingly, mostly Latin music. When he hit a Mariachi band playing a serenade Vince said, "leave it here."

"You're gay, dude," Leon joked.

"Shit, bro, who you callin' gay? You _still_ listen to Hootie and the Blowfish!" Vince mocked. We all laughed- at both of them. I was surprised when Vince asked to leave it on the mariachi band. But, he made a good point with Leon as well. It takes a true friend to call you out.

"That's true. Hey, I'm confident in my music taste," Leon insisted.

"You shouldn't be," Vince interjected. For being so bleary, Vince was still pretty entertaining. "Nah, I'm just kidding. I only wanna be with you. Hold my hand?" Vince joked, holding out his hand.

Leon just flipped him the bird and said, "I swear, if you hadn't just been mauled by a truck…"

"When you gonna get out of here?" I asked, changing the subject from Leon's musical preferences and Vince's current medical condition to something a little more serious.

"Shit, if it's up to Mia, probably first thing tomorrow morning," he mocked. She just tilted her head and gave him another irritated smile. He loved the attention that he was getting from Mia. After everything that had gone down with Brian, it was obvious that he was eating this up right now. But, rightfully so, he deserved something for all he'd just gone through.

We all stayed in Vince's room talking for hours. We didn't really have anything else to do and it felt nice to be around the others. There was just one thing missing, Jesse. I didn't know when he was going to be here. I didn't know when Mia was planning on going back. I didn't want to ask, either. I was glad she was here and didn't want to suggest that she leave. But, Jesse needed someone to be with him. Of course, something else was catching my attention. It was the unusual way that Vince and Mia were interacting. I knew that Mia enjoyed taking care of people. And, Vince was sort of like a hurt little puppy dog right now. But, I couldn't decide if there was something else going on. Had something happened after we left California? Surely not.

TBC

---

AJ

chupame el pito- suck my dick


	9. Chapter 9

It was getting well into the evening. As I looked around the room I could see that no one was planning on leaving anytime soon. It was too nice having the vast majority of the team back together. There was clearly a void, but it was still comforting to have most of them around. But, if we were going to stick around for too much longer I would need some coffee.

"Mia, want to run to the cafeteria with me to pick up some coffee?" I asked her. I wanted to talk with Mia. She was the only one who really knew what was going on. And, it would be best to talk with her alone. Mia was wonderful but she was awfully emotional. I did not assume that it would really help the morale of the group to see Mia start to cry.

"Bring us back some. And some food too," Leon said.

"Alright, well cafeteria food, but if you want some I'll get you some," I warned. "Anyone else that daring?"

"If you see anything edible," Dom said.

"Alright, well we'll be right back," I said motioning for Mia to follow me.

"Come get us if anything changes," Mia said concerned.

We left the room and started walking down the hospital corridors.

"How you doin'?" I asked her as we walked towards a sign that pointed to the cafeteria.

"I'm so confused," she admitted.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked her.

"You can't tell Dom, you have to promise," she said, looking directly in my eyes.

"Alright, I won't," I told her.

"After Dom wrecked the charger and Brian let him go, the cops were coming. Brian didn't know what to do. He hadn't figured out how he was going to explain everything to the cops. So, he ended up coming back to the house. I was so angry and so happy to see him at the same time. He told me which hospital Vince was flown to. He gave me the name of a doctor friend of his and told me that I needed to get Vince out of town as soon as I could," she explained as we poured some coffees, found some slightly edible looking food, paid, and went and sat down at a table in the hospital cafeteria. I didn't say anything, just listened.

"He told me that he was going to do everything he could to fix what he had done. I guess he felt really guilty. He told me that he loved me and that I should call him when I got to the hospital. I didn't know what to do or what to say. I really care about Brain but he lied to me. Everything about our relationship was a lie," she said as tears started to form in her eyes.

"That's not true, girl. The way that you felt about each other wasn't a lie," I told her. God, I was defending Brian? In what sick universe was this happening?

"Well, I don't know. But, anyway, they'd taken Vince to Cedars Sinai in West Hollywood- I was so glad that it was where Jesse ended up also. When I got to Vince's room, he was in really bad shape. I talked to the doctors about moving him and they wouldn't even listen to me. I really didn't have any reason to have Vince moved to a different hospital and I couldn't tell them the truth. They told me that his condition was too fragile to move him anywhere. All I could think, though, was that they were going to come in and arrest him. I mean the trucker saw Vince. There was no way that he was going to walk out of that hospital a free man. After Dom got down to Tijuana I called Brian. I didn't know who else to call. I didn't want to call his friend. I wanted to talk to someone that I knew. I felt really alone up there. He came and met me. It turns out that his doctor friend was actually some relative of his. Brian came up to the hospital. It was so nice to have him there. He said that he would try to get Vince moved out of the hospital. His friend came down and they went and talked with the staff. They told Vince's doctor something along the lines of Vince having previous experiences with the hospital down in Tijuana and how they were more familiar with his medical history and it would be in his best interest to be with doctors that had this type of experience. They also told them that it was unlikely that Vince would ever pay so transferring him to a hospital out of the country would save them a lot of money. I guess when it comes down to it, money is always the deciding factor. Brian came back in and told me that they were going to move him as soon as he was stabilized. He told me that he was working on getting the charges dropped but it was a lot more complicated than he thought," she explained. I just sat there awestruck. I couldn't believe what she was telling me. I couldn't believe that Brian went to all that trouble. I couldn't believe that it took so much to get someone moved to a different hospital. Dom would be pissed if he knew that Mia had called Brian. I couldn't believe that we all left Mia and she had no one to lean on but the buster- Brian.

"What about Jesse?" I asked. I was so concerned and, at this point, Mia was the only person who had seen him since he had been shot.

With this question, Mia started to cry. "I don't know. I haven't wanted to tell anyone how bad it actually is," she sobbed.

"How bad is it?" I asked, shocked.

"He was shot twice. The first bullet hit by his left shoulder. It splintered the bone. The second one was just above his heart. It almost got his heart, Letty!" she continued.

"Oh my God," I said. I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"He lost so much blood. He went into shock. I couldn't stop the bleeding. I ran inside and called 911 and grabbed as many towels as I could find. By the time they made it to the house me and all the towels were drenched in blood. I got to the hospital and he was in surgery. They removed the fragments of bullets and stopped the bleeding. They had given him, I don't even know how many, pints of blood when I left with Vince. He was sleeping. He had woken up briefly, but was really disoriented. They have him on IV antibiotics and everything but I just don't know. I don't know how bad his shoulder is messed up. I don't know if there was more I could have done. There was just so much blood," she cried.

"Mi, you know you did everything that you could. You aren't a doctor. I'm sure that just having you there with him was what he needed," I told her. I was trying to comfort her. But, I felt like I was probably doing a really bad job.

"I need to get back up there but I don't want to face it all," Mia admitted.

"You mean Jesse?" I asked.

"Jesse…and Brian," she said.

"What are you saying?" I asked. I hoped that I was misunderstanding her.

"I really care about him Letty. But, I can't be with him. I know that. He lied. He betrayed everyone that I care about. But I don't know if I can tell him that I never want to see him again either," she said.

"What about Vince?" I asked. I wanted to find out if the chemistry I saw between them was my own imagination or if there was something to it.

"What about him?" she asked, no longer crying.

"Come on, girl, you never give Vince the time of day. Is it just that he's hurt? Or is it more? Is this going to turn into one of those nurse-patient romances?" I asked, smirking slightly at her.

"Letty!" she said.

"I'm just asking," I said, pushing for a response.

"I don't know. It's Vince. We're friends," she started but stopped. "Maybe more."

What? Maybe more? You've got to be shitting me. I could not believe that those words just came out of her mouth. Never in a million years did I see that happening. So, Mia was going through some emotional stuff right now. From what I gathered, she was sad about the team being separated, felt guilty for not helping Jesse more, still cared about Brian but was battling over feelings for Vince. This had been an informative conversation. It made me tired just hearing about it all.

I just smiled at this statement.

"What?" she asked defensively.

"What, really? You just said that you might like V," I said, my smile growing.

"Stop," she said annoyed.

I couldn't. I wanted to laugh. But, I knew she'd really be pissed. And 'maybe more' didn't really mean anything until it was acted on. Still, this was good stuff.

"So what are you going to do about all this?" I asked her.

"I don't know," she sighed. "I have to go back to LA really soon. I need to stay with Jesse. And, I know what I have to do about Brian. I mean, at least right now, we can't be together. I can't trust him right now. And, well, Vince, I'm not going to do anything. I need to work this thing out with Brian before I even think about starting down that road," she sighed.

"What's to work out? Just tell him to fuck off," I said, still pissed at Brian.

"Letty it's not that simple," she stated.

"Only because you'll make it more complicated," I retorted.

"Well, it _is_ more complicated," she stressed.

"Alright, if you say so," I said, giving it to her. I didn't want to argue about it. I would have just punched him. But, she and I handled problems a little bit differently.

"He's not Dom. He doesn't really accept responses like that," she joked.

I just shrugged. That was probably true. Brian seemed like that kind of guy who would really want to sit down and have deep, hour-long conversations about every little problem. That would bug the hell out of me.

"Well then, good luck," I said, standing up. "When you do go back and see Jesse. Tell him that I'm, well that I'm sorry that I'm not there."

"I will, Let. And, I'm sure he understands why you aren't there," she said, placing her hand on mine.

"Thanks. Well, We should probably get these coffees back while they're still a little warm."

She followed my lead. We walked back towards the room.

"Don't say anything about what I just told you okay?" Mia asked, again.

"I won't. Trust me, I don't want to be the one to tell Dom that Brian may not be gone forever," I said smiling at her.

"Lord!" she said.

We made it back to the room. The guys were still sitting around talking. Of course, they had apparently been talking about us because when we entered the room got extremely quiet.

"Didn't mean to kill the party," I said handing Dom his coffee.

"Bout time you girls made it back," Leon said.

"Hey, it took me a while to find edible food," I told him, handing out the food I had procured from the cafeteria line.

"Uh huh," he said in disbelief.

"So, what did we miss?" Mia asked.

The guys looked at each other and laughed. Clearly, we had missed something. Something really funny. But, it was cool. If need be, I'd get it out of Dominic later. I enjoyed that the guys had their jokes apart from Mia and I. It kept things interesting.

We all stayed at the hospital for a few more hours before they asked us to leave. I didn't know if they were tired of all the noise we were making or if there were legitimate visiting hours. Either way, it had gotten pretty late. It had been fun, though. I was glad that we had fun. It relieved a great deal of stress. I was starting to feel better, mentally and physically.

Mia joined us and we all made it back to the house.

"Mi, I think that there's a free room down the hall there," Dom said pointing down the hallway.

"Okay, thanks. I'm going to go to bed. It's been a long day. I'm going to go back to LA tomorrow and check on Jesse," Mia said, attempting to act casual.

"Hey, Mia, thanks for all your help," Dom said, hugging her and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

She just smiled at him and said, "no problem."

Wow, after talking to her I realized that this was the understatement of the year. But, it wouldn't do Dom's stress level any good to know how much strain this had put on Mia.

"Hey, I'm going to go to bed too. I'm tired," I said, taking a different pill. I decided half of one was probably sufficient, though. So I broke it in half and stole a sip of the Corona that Dom had just pulled out of the fridge.

"Okay. Are you feeling okay?" he asked, taking his beer back.

"Yeah, just tired. You coming?" I said smiling up at him.

"I'll be there in just a minute, gonna talk to Leon a sec," he said, looking down at me.

"Okay, night Le," I said heading to the bedroom.

The bed was still unmade from the morning. And Dom's clothes were on the floor. It didn't take us very long to make the room like a lot like Dom's room in LA.

I crashed down on the bed. I thought about what Mia had told me. 'He's not Dom. He doesn't really accept responses like that'. This made me smile. I was glad that Dom wasn't like Brian. Few people understood the relationship that Dom and I had. In fact, no one did. They accepted Dom and I as a couple but didn't really know what we shared. I thought about it and how, regardless of the antics that Dom had pulled, I did love him. Mia had tried to get me to explain it many times.

Just then, Dom walked in. I looked up at him. Dom had the ability to say so much without using any words. He did this with many people, but usually it preceded a fight. However, with us, it was much more special. He could speak directly to my heart without uttering a single word. He lit up any room that I was in just by walking through the door.

He walked over towards me and smiled. There was something about the way that he smiled at me. It just told me that he needed me. I looked into his eyes. They showed a truth that promised he would never leave me. He took off his shirt, threw it on the floor, and climbed into bed. He wrapped his arms around me. The touch of his hands against my skin said that regardless of how hard I fell, he would catch me. That was why I needed him. I knew that I could not face this world or this life without him. He was going to stand by me while our lives were in turmoil. And, he was going to be there to help me rebuild it into something we could love again.

"So, what were you and the guys talking about when Mia and I came in?" I asked, leaning against him.

"Vince and Mia," he said.

"Oh, what did he tell you? I think I got an abbreviated story of that one," I said as I turned to face him.

TBC

---

AJ

A/N- last part of this- describing the way that Letty feels about Dom was somewhat inspired by a song by Alison Krauss and Union Station – "The Smile on your Face"

I don't own them either.


	10. Chapter 10

"He seems to think that him and Mia might have something going on," Dom said.

"Why's he think that?" I asked.

"He said that she's been flirting with him. I think that Mia has probably just been giving him a lot of attention because he's hurt and she feels bad. But, why kill his dream?" he explained. "Why? What did Mia tell you?"

"You know Mia, she's really emotional. I don't think she really knows what she wants right now," I said. This was the best way I could think of telling him without disclosing the fact that if Brian weren't still in the picture, Vince would have a better shot.

"So she _did _talk about Vince to you?" Dom asked curiously.

"Yeah, sort of, but she didn't really give much info. She just basically said that she didn't really know how she felt about him," I said. I figured that was pretty similar to 'maybe more'.

"Well, this could get interesting," Dom remarked.

He had no idea! I think that it certainly could, depending on what Mia decided. I figured if she actually didn't have the strength, balls, courage, whatever it was that she felt like she needed to break it off with Brian, it could get really interesting. But, that was her decision. I did think it would be pretty hilarious if Mia and Vince hooked up. However, I had a very difficult time visualizing that actually happening. However, given as I was sitting in Hector's exgirlfriend's sister's house in Tijuana cuddling up to my ex convict boyfriend that I was pretty sure was wanted by the state of California, I probably wasn't the best at predicting a successful future. Guess anything was possible.

I closed my eyes and let the pain pill start killing the pain of reality and take me into the wonderful world of unconsciousness.

When I woke up it was not yet morning. I was really thirsty though so decided to make my way through the darkness to get something to drink. I went into the kitchen to get whatever was in the fridge. I heard voices down the hall. I looked around for the time until I remembered there were no clocks in this God forsaken house. I guessed it was probably around four o'clock.

I walked down the hall and saw a light on in the room Mia was using. She was quietly talking with someone. I couldn't make out the voice, but they were male. It was clear that they were arguing but both speaking too softly to be understood. But, then, the male voice got a bit louder. I was able to identify the voice. It was Brian.

Oh, hell no. I had to be dreaming. Maybe one of the side effects of this pill was auditory hallucination. I would have preferred that. Surely Brian was not here. If Dom knew that the buster was sitting a couple of doors down he would flip out, rightfully so. I could not believe this! What happened to Mia's rational for not being with him. I was too flustered by all this to think about knocking. Instead, I just opened the door.

Sure enough, there were Brian and Mia sitting on the bed. They looked up at me in complete shock, as if I had caught them with their hand in the cookie jar. I wished it had been that simple. I'm fine with cookies. But, I was not fine with Brian.

"Letty," Mia said, slightly jumping. "Close the door."

I obliged, mainly to avoid anyone else becoming aware of this horrible move on Mia's part.

"What the hell, Mia?" I asked with utter shock.

"Letty, listen, I'm really sorry about…," Brian started.

"No," I said holding up my handing and signaling him to stop. "I asked Mia. I don't want to talk to you."

"Keep your voice down. You'll wake up Dom and Leon," she pleaded. This statement appalled me. No she wasn't reprimanding me for something. At that moment, I almost wanted to call out Dom' name. I reframed, though.

"Alright, Mi," I said, trying to calm down and take this last statement in stride. "What's going on? Why is Brian here?"

"He came to talk," she said.

"What? The LAPD don't give you boys cell phones?" I said to Brian harshly. I guess that calmness was short lived.

"She wouldn't talk to me," Brian insisted.

"Wow, Brian. I know you aren't trying to get _me_ to feel sorry for _you_," I said, astounded. That wasn't going to happen. I still wanted to blame him for all of this. He was an easy target. And, in reality, he had lied to all of us. We might not be in this situation if it wasn't for him- or at least that was what I was still telling myself.

"Letty, stop," Mia said.

"Mi, what happened to all that shit you told me earlier? You expect me to not be pissed to see him sitting here? How do you know he's not going to run off and tell the cops where we are?" I asked. I assumed this was unlikely but I wasn't really speaking rationally, more out of anger and frustration.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not a cop anymore," Brian stated haphazardly.

"What do you mean you're 'pretty sure'? Ain't that something you should probably know?" I asked, being as big of a smart ass as possible for four o'clock in the morning.

"I know I'm not a cop anymore," he replied.

"Bullshit. Same way you weren't a cop three days ago?" I retorted.

"He got fired," Mia added. "He wouldn't give you guys up. And, they knew he let Dom go. He wouldn't tell them where we went."

"It was the only way that you wouldn't get sent to prison. All of you," he said, emphasizing the word 'all' and looking right at me.

I didn't really know how to answer this. I knew I would never have lost my job over Brian, even before I knew he was a cop. That was a noble move. But, I wasn't going to let him off that easily. He was still in the house and he shouldn't have been.

"So what, you think that is going to make up for putting us in this situation?" I questioned.

"I didn't say that. But, let's be honest, you brought this on yourselves," Brian admitted.

At this moment, I wanted to punch him in the face. He had some nerve to say that, given the current circumstances.

"Oh hell no," I said, getting confrontational. I stepped up to him and he stood up off the bed. We locked eyes and I wanted to push him out the window. Unfortunately it was a single story house so I wouldn't have gotten nearly the effect I would have liked.

"Letty, Brian, stop," Mia said forcefully. She seemed to be getting very fed up with everyone at this point. I couldn't blame her. She was really the only innocent person in the whole situation.

I heard her but I really wasn't listening. I took another step closer to Brian. He may have lost a girlfriend and a job, but our world had evaporated in one fell swoop. I wanted to hurt him so that he would feel as bad as the rest of us. But, before I had a chance to act I saw Dominic at the doorway.

The next thing I knew Dom had Brian by the throat and was holding him against the wall. It happened quickly. I did not realize that anyone could move so fast this early in the morning. But, rage is an amazing thing.

"Dom, stop!" Mia yelled, there was no reason to be quiet at this point. The cat was out of the bag.

Dom didn't stop.

Brian was trying, unsuccessfully, to pull Dom's hand away from his throat. He was gasping. Dom didn't say a word. But, he was clearly extremely angry. The vein in the side of his head was pulsating and he was looking Brian square in the eyes.

"Stop it!" Mia yelled again. It wasn't doing any good. And, I didn't anticipate that it would.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing here?" Dom finally said. His voice sounded surprisingly calm for someone who was strangling another person.

"Let me go, dude. I'll explain," Brian chocked out in between gasps.

Dom hesitated for longer than necessary. He released his throat. And, as soon as he was released, Dom pulled back and punched Brian straight across the face. He fell to the ground, blood already starting to come out of his nose. In an effort to shield Brian from Dom, Mia ran over to him. It was very Pocahontas/John Smith. She put her arm around his head. Dom did not back away, but did not make any immediate attempts to hit him again. I just stood back. I didn't want to get involved. Someone needed to hit him. I was somewhat disappointed that I had missed my opportunity. I couldn't really do it now.

"You better have a damn good reason," Dom finally said.

Brian wiped his nose and stood up. Mia stood beside him. I was surprised with the allegiance that Mia was showing Brian right now. It actually pissed me off a little bit. Hours earlier she had told me what a backstabbing ass Brian was- my paraphrasing of course. And now she was trying to shield him from her own brother.

"I'm sorry, Dom. I did my best to get you guys off. I'm still waiting to hear if it worked, though. But, I've got to work it out with Mia. I love her," he stated.

I could tell by the look in Dom's face that this was not what he wanted to hear. I thought it would have been smarter for Brian to leave off that last part. But, then, he was a cop and they weren't really the smartest bunch.

With that, Dom tackled Brian and they were on the floor. Dom was punching Brian. I think it took Brian by surprise because it took a couple of seconds for him to respond. It became an all out punching match, with Brian losing. Brian wasn't as bad of a fighter as I would have thought. But, he was not nearly as big and strong as Dom.

"Letty, do something," Mia beseeched. Me? What the hell? I wasn't involved in this shit, right now anyway. I was enjoying the show. But, I knew that she was asking me to try to talk some sense in to Dom so he wouldn't kill Brian. But, I didn't think it was senseless. We all needed to get our anger out some way. And, if Dom wanted to get it out on Brian, I was okay with that. I looked over at Mia.

I looked in her eyes. They were watering. She was about to lose it. She really did care about this idiot. I guess we can't pick who we fall for. I was a good example of that. I did not want to side with Brian. But, I would side with Mia. She deserved something.

"Dom," I called softly. Amidst all his rage, he looked over. I nodded towards Mia. "Hold off for a second and listen to Mia."

He got up and stepped back towards me. I could tell that he was not extremely happy for what I had asked him to do. I just thought that Mia better have a pretty good speech worked out.

"Dom, you've taken everything away from me lately. You don't listen to me. You don't seem to care. I know that you think you do. But, if you did I wouldn't be here. Lay the fuck off and give me time to talk to him. I deserve that much. Stop acting like a macho prick and just back off for a little while," she said straight up.

I was impressed with her straightforwardness. I knew what she said made Dom feel bad though. The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt Mia. But I knew, she needed her time. If I had stopped talking to Dom every time someone had told me I was sure that we wouldn't be where we are. Of course, I wasn't sure if that was the best example. But, it made me identify wit Mia's predicament.

It was after this that I noticed Leon standing in the doorway. He appeared tired and shocked at the same time, which is an interesting look on a guy.

"Hey, Le, you wanna get in this?" I whispered, mainly intended as a joke to pull me out of this seriousness this situation had just created.

Leon shook his head very hard, indicating that he did not care to get involved.

"Yeah, it's more of a spectator sport," I remarked quietly.

Dom briskly walked past me, past Leon, and out of the room. I heard him stomp down the hall towards the room that we were using and slam the door. I wasn't really surprised that he was pissed.

I looked over at Mia. She looked upset and extremely stressed out. She was still standing by Brian, who looked like he'd just been beaten up. I didn't feel like sticking around any longer for this. I was tired.

Leon and I both trailed out of the room at the same time. I hesitated before walking towards my room.

"Have fun with that," Leon stated, acknowledging an exceptionally angry Dominic on the other side of the door.

"Yeah, thanks," I said turning the doorknob.

I walked into the room. Dom didn't say anything. He was just pacing around. He stopped and punched a hole in the drywall. Awesome. That would be fun to fix. Rarely did I have an occasion to test my ability to accurately use Spanish carpentry terms, guess this was going to be my chance. I suppose I've always wanted to know how to say caulk in multiple languages. I appreciated that Dom had now given me this opportunity. At least he was hitting something that wasn't going to hit back. I would have preferred him to hit a tree or something we wouldn't have to repair later, but that was his prerogative. I didn't feel like now was the time to attempt to redirect his behavior. I just went and sat down on the bed. I was still thirsty.

"I can't believe Mia!" Dom yelled. I couldn't believe it either. I wonder if this was the type of interesting that Dom had been referring to earlier. I doubted it.

TBC

---

AJ


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey, come here," I called out to him.

He stopped pacing and just stood still for a few moments. Then, he made his way over to sit beside me.

"What?" he asked, a voice full of attitude.

"Don't act like you're mad at me," I retorted.

"Okay, I'm not. What?" he said, his voice a little bit calmer.

I didn't really have anything to say to him. I knew he was mad. I couldn't really blame him. This was something that he was going to have to work out with Mia. They were brother and sister, and Italian, so they could get into some pretty heated arguments sometimes. But, in the end, they always worked everything out. This situation was a little bit different. I didn't doubt, though, in time they would settle things.

So, instead, I put my hand on his cheek and leaned over and kissed him. Everything had been so stressful and I had been in so much pain, that Dom and I had not really done anything since, well, before Race Wars. I'd missed being close to him.

He reciprocated. He got up and stood in front of where I was sitting on the bed. He leaned down and continued to kiss me. I forgot that I hurt so much; he had my complete attention. He eased up towards me closer and closer. As he moved in, we both leaned back onto the bed. He wasn't wearing a shirt and I started rubbing his bare back. It was smooth, but it felt tight. I knew he had been under a lot of stress. Maybe we could do something about that right now. He felt amazing. With one swift movement, he pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it on the floor. He looked down at me and smiled before pulling me back in for a passionate kiss. He started kissing my neck. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. The way his tongue tickled my collarbone drove me nuts. I pulled my head up and started to graze the edge of his ear with my tongue, something that was always a sure thing with Dom. And, I could feel the success of this. I moved my way down his neck. He unhooked my bra and I slipped it off. Still kissing me, he moved one hand up to my breast, and the other down my shorts. He had great hands. Dom slipped off my shorts and took his focus off kissing and directed it towards the task at hand. I bit my lower lip. Damn, he was good.

I sat up on my knees. I pulled down his boxers and I left a trail of kisses from his neck down towards his waistline. Needless to say, he was pretty excited. But, before I got too far down he said, "I want this to be all about you."

He laid down on top of me. He led my arms over my head and, with one hand, held my hands up there. I wasn't really into being out of control, or submissive. But, in some situations, like this one with him, I was pretty turned on by this. He had me, I couldn't do a thing so I just let him take over. He was kissing my neck when he entered me. We entertained that position for a little while before I rolled up on top of him. We climaxed together and I fell into his arms. For about another hour, we just laid there. We were both pretty sweaty but the way he felt against me was incredible. Slowly, we drifted off to sleep- both exhausted. All in all, it was a fun ending to a shitty night.

When I woke up the next morning, Dom and I were in the same position. He was laying on his back, his arm around me, and I was curled up to him, my head resting on his shoulder. He was still sleeping and looked so relaxed. I didn't want to wake him up. I was sure he needed the sleep. I got up quietly and gently. I really wanted to get something to drink. And, I was in a lot of pain and wanted to take something for it.

I picked up my shorts. I didn't see my shirt so I just put Dom's on instead. I opened the door slowly and stepped into the hallway. I walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. We had beer, that was it. I wasn't surprised with this group. I knew I wasn't supposed to drink the water so Corona was my only option. I guess it could be worse. It could have been Natural Light. I opened it up and took a sip. It didn't seem like anyone else was up. I walked over and took another one of the pain pills. Maybe it would help me go back to sleep.

I went over and sat down on the couch for a minute. I was trying to let everything sink in. I heard someone walking down the hall. I assumed it was probably Dom, coming to see where I had run off to. But, it wasn't. It was Mia, and Brian.

They didn't notice me and were whispering to each other.

"Okay, well you're just going to follow me back up?" Brian asked her softly.

"No. I'm going up to check on Jesse. I'll call you when I'm ready," she told him.

"Hey guys," I said, looking over at them.  
"Jesus," Mia jumped. "Letty."

"Didn't mean to scare you," I said, really not caring. "Where you going?"

"I'm going back up to LA," she told me. This really didn't shock me. I guessed Mia had planned on leaving before anyone got up. I was not exactly thrilled to be privy to this information. I would have preferred to wake up and find them gone with Dom and Leon. What great luck I have had lately.

"Why you taking off so early?" I asked suspiciously.

"I don't want anymore drama," she told me. "I need to clear my head."

"Well, let us know about Jesse as soon as you can," I said, full of concern. It was killing me that I couldn't go see that kid. It wasn't fair.

"I will," she said, walking up to the couch. "I'm sorry Letty."  
"Why?" I asked confused.

"Just for everything that's happened," she replied. This was Mia. She was the kindest person I've ever met.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault," I told her, looking over at Brian.

"Letty," she said annoyed that we were still solely blaming Brian.

"Listen, drive safe girl," I told her.

"I will. I'll call you later," she said, turning and getting her keys. She walked out the door and Brian followed her.

I took a big sip of my beer and went back into the bedroom. Dom was still asleep. I definitely didn't want to wake him up and tell him that Mia and Brian had slipped out. I sat Indian style on the bed next to him. I sipped the beer and just watched him sleep. He was breathing really deeply. And, his eyelids would flutter from time to time. He was dreaming. I hoped he was dreaming about something happier than what had happened the past couple of days.

I wasn't sure how long I had watched him. But, he started to move and then he opened his eyes. He found mine and he stretched.  
"Hey beautiful," he said, taking his outstretched arm and pulling me up close to him.

"Morning," I replied. I leaned down and gave him a kiss. I went to pull up and he reached up and held my lips to his. I laughed through the kiss but was really just smiling because I finally felt like we were back. Things between us were like they were before, sort of.

"How long have you been up?" he asked. I had to tell him. He was going to find out anyway. I didn't want to ruin the mood.

I laid down next to him and he put his arm around me. We made out for a few minutes and then he just laid there. He propped his head up on his arm and looked down at me. He smiled.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," I said back.

"Is anybody else up?" he asked, stroking me cheek with his free hand.

"I don't think Leon's up. But, I'm not sure," I told him.

"Is Mia up?" he asked, his tone starting to change a little.

"She and Brian left about an hour ago," I told him. His face got hard. Damn.

"Where'd they go?" he asked sternly.

"Mia said she was going back to LA to check on Jesse. I didn't talk to Brian," I told him.

Dom let out a long sigh. He nodded. He didn't seem to want to talk about it either. I was glad.

"Do you want to get up?" he asked.

I shook my head no. He smiled and let out a small laugh.

"You already started drinking?" he laughed, a little bit harder, pointing to my empty beer bottle on the table next to the bed.

"You know me," I joked. "Nah, it was all we had."

"How you feeling?" he asked, moving the bottom of my shirt up and rubbing my belly. He traced the area around my bellybutton with his middle finger. His touch was so soft, so gentle.

"Pretty good. Better after last night," I smiled.

"I have that effect on women," he joked, kissing me on the cheek. I just rolled my eyes at his cocky comment.

"What do you want to do today?" I asked him, changing the subject.

He perked his eyebrows and grinned at me. He leaned down and gave me a long, hard kiss. Fucking guys.

"Yeah, I agree I think that the beach would be fun," I joked. Clearly this was not what he was referring to. But, I needed to get out of this house.

"That's not what I meant," he said.

"Hey, it's a long day. They'll be time for everything," I told him, sitting up on my knees. He sat up. I wrapped my arms around his neck. "And, right now. I think we should go to the beach and drink."

He smiled and pulled me in for a kiss. "Everything, huh," he asked seductively.

"If you play your cards right," I joked.

"Never lost a hand yet," he said.

I got up and took his shirt off. I threw it at his face. I went over to my suitcase and found a clean shirt and pair of shorts. Mia had also packed a bag with soap, shampoo, and similar toiletry items. It was like my Mom had packed me for camp. I was surprised everything didn't have little labels with my name on it. But, I appreciated it. Before I knew it, Dom came up behind me. He wrapped his arms around me and starting kissing my neck.

"You ain't got to throw shit. That was just uncalled for," he said in between kisses.

I pulled my arms back to his hips. I turned around and looked into his eyes. I knew what he was expecting. Instead I just smacked his butt.

"I'm taking a shower. See if you can find a cooler somewhere," I told him, slipping on a shirt so that I could walk across the hall to the bathroom without Leon seeing me topless. I looked back and saw Dom standing there looking so disappointed.

"I'd rather take a shower," he called back to me.

I poked my head back into the room and said, "You haven't gotten dirty yet."

"But I'd like to," he said, as I turned to go into the bathroom.

I went in and turned on the lights. I reached into the shower and turned on the water, pulling the shower curtain over and looking to see if there were any towels anywhere. I didn't see anything but a hand towel. That was a little small for my needs.

"Are there any towels out there?" I called out. I didn't really care. I knew how good a shower would feel.

I stepped in. The water was warm and felt great. I heard the bathroom door open. I knew it was Dom. Leon knew better.

"I just wanted to tell you," he started, stepping into the shower. "I found some towels."

"Oh, yeah. I'm sure that's why you came in here," I smiled.

"You wanted towels. I got you towels," he said, trying to act serious but failing miserably.

"Thank you," I said, reaching up and giving him a kiss. We hadn't had shower sex in a really long time. It seemed like back in LA we were always so busy or always in a hurry. We were either rushing to get to work or getting ready to go out. I appreciated Mexico right now. It was as if we were on vacation. And, if I could shut my mind off, it would really seem like we were on vacation. Dom and I hadn't been able to just be a couple in a while. There had been so much other bullshit going on. Nothing like a major tragedy to set things back on track, I guess.

When we finally got out, I noticed Dom had in fact found towels. Nice. We dried off and I changed clothes. He just slipped his boxers back on and we went into the den. Leon was sitting on the couch drinking a beer staring off into space. We all missed the fact there was no television to occupy our time.

"Did you guys have a nice shower?" he joked.

Dom smacked the back of his head as he went by.

"Want to go to the beach and drink?" I asked, sitting down at the opposite end of the couch.

"Sure, I can drink anywhere I guess," I told him. "We gonna go by and see Vince?"

"He said he'd call. They had to do some kind of check up shit this morning. They're putting the coyote back together," Dom called from the kitchen.

"Did you find a cooler?" I called in to him.

"Not yet. I found you towels. Relax, one thing at a time," he smiled in. Right, like there hadn't been an ulterior motive with the towels.

"So, Mia's gone," Leon said quietly after Dom had gone off searching for a cooler.

"Yeah, Dom knows. But, let's not talk about it. She went back to LA," I told him, trying to not bring up this topic again.

Leon nodded in agreement.

We ended up not finding a cooler. Luckily, in Tijuana, it's not really difficult to come by coolers. We filled it up with beer and ice, mostly beer, and headed for the beach. We had a good day, just laying out by the waves, drinking, joking around. Vince called Dom and told him that they were probably going to let him out of the hospital the next day but were going to do a couple of more things today just to make sure he would be alright. That raised our spirits a little bit higher. We decided to go by the hospital and hang out with him that night. But, for the rest of the day, we just hung out. We tried not to worry about the things that we couldn't control and just have fun. This was easier said than done. But, I was glad Vince would be coming back soon.

TBC

---

AJ


	12. Chapter 12

Dom's cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen before flipping it open. .

"What's up, Mia?" he said casually.

"Why?" I heard him ask. "Alright, alright, hold on."

He nudged my arm with his phone and said, "She wants to talk to you." He seemed a little miffed by this but it wasn't my fault.

"What's up girl?" I asked her, taking the phone from him. I wondered if she was still with Brian.

"I got someone that wants to talk to you," she said. If she put O'Connor on the phone I swear to God…

"Letty," a very weak Jesse said.

"Jesse, man, how you doing bro?" I asked him. Jesse! I was glad that he was on the phone. Hearing Jesse was so much better than hearing Brian would have been. It was amazing to hear his voice. But, honestly, hearing his voice sound so weak killed me. But, at least I was able to talk to him. God, I had missed him.

"You know, I uh, I'm okay," he said. I loved this kid.

"It's good to hear your voice. I've been worried about you man," I told him.

"How are you?" he asked. How am I doing? Well, comparatively, I guess I was doing better than he was.

"Livin'," I told him.

"Where are you guys?" he asked.

"We headed south," I said, not trying to give away too much information over the phone, just in case.

"I hear ya. Well, you know, I wish I could be there," he said. He sounded sad.

"I know man. You will. Get better, you hear?" I told him. He needed to be with us in Mexico. He needed to lie on the beach and have a Corona. He needed to sit with me and trash talk all the skanks that attempted to hit on Dom. It was just no fun alone.

"Totally," he said.

"I promised," Mia said, apparently getting the phone back from Jesse.

"Thanks, Mi," I told her. "How's he doing?"

"Um, alright I guess," she said. Vague. I guessed that she didn't want to talk about it in front of him. That was polite.

"So," I started and then looked up at Dom and Leon who were both staring at me. I raised my eyebrows at them and then walked out the house, closing the door behind me. "What was that shit this morning?"

"I don't know, Let," she said.

"Nah, you going to have to do better than that. Dom put his hand through a wall and I probably got to be the one to fix that shit. So, I need more than 'I don't know'," I explained to her.

"I don't think I'm going to get back with him," she finally said.

"So why'd you run off?" I asked. It wasn't like Mia to run away from things. Perhaps she had spent too much time with me over the years and I had become a bad influence.

"I just couldn't take it anymore. I needed to figure it out for myself. Dom's been running my life for long enough. I needed to make this decision without him, without anyone," she said, apparently implying me also.

"Well, you do what you do girl. But, if he shows back up here it ain't going to be pretty," I warned her. This time Dom had put his hand through a wall. Next time, I would venture to guess he would probably put his hand through O'Connor.

"How's Vince?" she asked.

"You care?" I asked. This was probably a little harsh of me. I was glad she had let me talk to Jesse but this whole Brian thing still had me completely thrown.

"Letty!" she yelled.

"He's getting out tomorrow," I told her. "We went by there tonight. He's alive. He's recovering. He kind of looks like shit. But, it's V, he's looked worse. He'll pull through," I reassured her.

"That's good. I wish I could be there when he gets out. But, at least tell him that I'm thinking about him, will you?" she asked.

"You're thinking about him?" I asked curiously. I had no clue what that was supposed to mean. And, after Mia's escapade with Brian, I wasn't about to give Vince any false hope.

"Or, I don't know, yeah," she replied, confused by my response.

"Why don't you just come back down here and you can tell him yourself?" I asked. I didn't want to take her away from Jesse, by any means, but I wasn't going to be a messenger pigeon between two very confused people.

"Please don't start with that. I want to be here for Jesse. Just don't tell him anything then if it's going to be too much of an imposition," she remarked frustrated.

"It's not. I'll tell him whatever you want me to. Is there anything you want me to tell Dom and Leon when I go back inside? They were staring at me pretty crazy before I walked out here to talk to you," I mentioned.

"Tell them I miss them," she said.  
I just laughed. I didn't think that would satisfy their curiosity but I just laughed and said, "alright Mi."

"Take care, Letty. Call me, okay? Let me know how Vince is doing," she said. I could hear legitimate concern in her voice.

"Sure thing. You too. Don't hang out with Brian anymore," I added.

"Uh! You're infuriating sometimes," she said in a very incensed manner.  
"Yeah, well at least you and your brother can find common ground on that," I stated.

"We always have," she said. I could tell she was smiling with this statement.  
"Thanks," I told her and hung up the phone. Mia. Despite the fact she stated she was running away from it, Mia sort of enjoyed drama. I didn't. But, I did find her drama to be fairly humorous at times. This was not one of those times.

I walked back up to the house and opened the door. Dom and Leon were standing in the exact same spots I had left them. They were staring at me, no doubt waiting for me to regale them of all the things Mia and I had talked about in the short few minutes we were on the phone. I decided not to.  
"What?" I asked shooting them the same type of confused stare they were shooting me.

"What was that all about? Why did you go outside to talk?" Dom asked suspiciously.

"I'd think it'd be obvious," I started. "I didn't want you to hear our conversation."

"Why not?" he persisted.

"Cause it was private," I retorted.

"What were you talking about?" he asked, slightly louder.  
"If I'd wanted to you to know that I'd have stayed in here to have the conversation," I said, handing him back his phone. I knew I was getting to him. But, I didn't care. I was tired of being the middleman.

"Whatever," Dom replied angrily, taking his phone and putting it back into his pocket.

"By the way, Mia wanted me to tell you guys she misses you," I said, relaying message number one. I smiled. This was not what either of them had wanted to hear. It was obvious by the expression that was forming on Dom's face that this little piece of information was just enough to send him over the top.

"That's it?" he asked, still getting louder.

"Yeah, what did you want?" I said, almost yelling back at him.

"Maybe an explanation!" he yelled.

"Well, what the hell are you yelling at me for asshole. Ask her yourself!" I yelled back.

"She apparently only wants to talk to you," he ranted.

"Jesus! I wonder why," I said sarcastically.

Dom stormed out of the room. That left Leon. He was standing there looking very uncomfortable, as he usually did whenever anyone was fighting around him. Leon was a very non-confrontational kind of guy. He attempted to deescalate situations as quickly as possible. When Dom and I, or any of us for that matter, got into an argument, he always stood there looking like he was sorry he was caught in the same room.

I looked over at Leon who looked at me timidly. I rolled my eyes and went over to the couch. So much for our vacation. Sometimes life just comes back and sucker punches you in the face.

"He's just really stressed out," Leon stated, coming over and sitting across from me.  
I didn't respond. I gave him a look that I hoped portrayed what I was feeling- _don't make excuses for him_.

I laid back and closed my eyes. Damn. Stress. I was tired of stress. Now it was Dom again that was stressing me out. I knew he was angry. I knew he felt out of control. I knew that he was upset about what had recently transpired with Mia. But, damn. He didn't have to be so volatile. Clearly it was obvious that I was keeping things from him. Dom and I really didn't have any secrets. How could you have secrets with someone you had grown up with, shared your life with, and loved so deeply for so many years? He was angry about that. I got it. But, he definitely had a streak of selfish to him and I saw it playing out. His desire to control all situations was how his selfish nature manifested itself. He couldn't control all this, no matter how hard he tried. It was killing him. But, I didn't feel sorry for him. I felt like punching him.

"You okay?" Leon asked.

I guess I had drowned deep into thought.  
Was I okay? This was a question I had heard way too much of recently. I didn't think that I was probably okay. I was mad. I was mad at Dom. And, I was mad at Mia. Torettos. Ugh.

"Are you okay?" I asked back instead of answering.

Leon thought about this for a minute before responding, "I'm a lot better than I was."

"Yeah, I can tell. You aren't trying to gank my pain pills anymore," I responded with a chuckle.

"We don't need to be fighting with each other," he started.

I interrupted him by saying, "Leon, please."

"No, listen," he insisted. "We got enough shit coming in. Now's the time when we got to be there for each other, dog."

"Hm, that's deep. You're like the Dali Lama now," I said flippantly

"Such a fucking smart ass," he said smiling.

"I try to pick a role and stick with it," I told him as he walked out of the room.

I closed my eyes again. I tried to clear my head. It was unsuccessful. All the events of the day, or rather the days, kept racing through my mind. I heard Jesse's voice, weak and distant. I saw Vince lying in the hospital bed. I saw Dom and Brian fighting on the floor of our house in Mexico. I saw Mia running off in the wee hours of the morning. How had things gotten so bad so quickly? How could they still be getting worse? It was as if we ran away from everything that made us happy, made us a family.

"Letty," I heard a voice say.

I shifted slightly before opening my eyes. I guess I had fallen asleep. I looked up. It was Dominic.

I sighed. I knew why he was here. I hadn't come to bed. I could only assume that he thought I was too mad to come to bed with him. That wasn't the case.

"Fell asleep," I told him.

He nodded. He reached out his hand to me. I reached for it. He helped pull me up, off the couch. He led me into the bedroom. He sheets were mangled. Clearly, Dom had been unable to sleep. Or, he had been unable to sleep restfully.

I climbed in. The spot I moved to was still warm. I laid down and felt the mattress shift as he climbed into bed also. He pulled me flush to his body and held me tight.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in my ear.

"I know. Just chill the fuck out. Everything's going to be okay," I said. I didn't know if I even believed this but I knew it was what he needed to hear.

"I love you," he whispered again. I could feel his breath against my ear. It sent chill bumps down my spine. Sometimes it pissed me off how much I loved this man.

"I know," I replied.

"…And?" he asked after a few seconds.  
I let out a small laugh before saying, "I love you, too."

"I know," he said.

---

"Knock, knock," I heard a familiar voice announce.

I turned my head towards the direction of the sound and slowly opened my eyes. It was so bright. As my eyes adjusted to the light I made out the figure standing in the doorway. Vince!

"Look what the cat dragged in," I managed to let out before stretching and sitting up.

I looked him over. He looked somewhat better outside of the hospital bed. At least he was out of the gown and not connected to machines. His arm was wrapped up with bandages and he looked pale. But, there he was. Standing right in front of me. He had been lucky. I knew that. He knew that. We all knew that. And, for his injuries, he had been released pretty quickly.

I noticed that Dom was not in bed. I hadn't even felt him get up this morning. But, from the brightness of the sun shinning in the windows I had a feeling it was not quite morning anymore.

"They couldn't hold me down," Vince said, walking in and leaning against the wall.

It was obvious that he noticed the hole in the drywall at that point because he walked up to it and made a perplexed expression.

"Who did…," he started.  
"Take a wild guess," I interrupted.

"Damn," he replied.

"Where is captain destructive?" I asked.

"Other room," he said, pointing out the door with his index finger. "Thanks for coming with them to get me by the way. I'm glad to know you care so much."

"Shut up," I told him. "If they'd a told me they were going, I would've joined the party."

Vince came over and sat down on the bed. It was good to have him back. I wish that Dom would have woken me up and told me they were going to pick him up, though. Of course, I felt like I had slept for days. I felt so rested. I felt much less stressed today. Of course, I was sure that something would happen to bring that ever-present feeling of stress back. It seemed to be the routine lately.

"It's okay," he said. "I know you love me. It's just too bad you gave up on me so soon and settled for Dom."

This just made me laugh. Vince and I could never have had a chance of working together as a couple. We never felt that way towards one another. But, it was for the best. Instead, we were amazing friends.

"Just don't tell him, okay?" I joked.  
"Secret's safe with me," he joked back.

"By the way," I interjected. "Mia wanted me to tell you that she was thinking of you. I know she wanted to be here but she's with Jesse right now."

"Yeah, about Mia," Vince started.

TBC

---

AJ

A/N - Sorry for letting it go so long without updating. It won't happen again.


	13. Chapter 13

"Oh, Jesus. What about Mia?" I asked hesitantly and clearly not wanting to get into it. I loved Vince. But, there were just some things that I didn't want to talk about. This was one of them…especially right now.

"She with Brian?" he inquired. He asked softly.

Damn. I really didn't want to answer this question. I was wondering if one of the geniuses in the other room (i.e. Dom or Leon) had told him about Brian's cameo at the house. My response to this question depended a lot on what Vince actually knew. I had always hoped that the two of them would get together, mainly because he had liked her for so long. I still had hope, granted it may have been false hope. And I definitely didn't want to transfer any of my false hope over to him. I could tell that this was one of those times where he wanted to know, but he didn't. He only wanted an answer if I had the right answer. I didn't have any answer. I wondered how many ways I could talk in a circle.

"Why do ya ask that?" I replied. This was a legitimate response, I thought. Maybe if I could find out how much he knew I could figure out what to say.

"Because she was like less than a week ago," he replied. That was a good point.

"Lot's changed since then. I think you know that," I said, pointing to his arm. "You used to could use that."

Lord, so much had changed!

He nodded his head, agreeing with me. For a few brief moments we both sat in silence. They were moments of contemplation, reflection. Change, an understatement.

"Still didn't answer my question," he said. Darn.

"Truthfully, I don't know," I told him slowly.

"Heard she only talks to you now," he said as a smile formed on his face.

"I'm sure that awesome exaggeration came from Dom. What else did you hear?" I asked, still prodding for information.

"Nothing. Why? What else has happened?" he asked inquisitively. I think he probably sensed that something was fishy at this point. Oh. Now I was going to have to tell him. Maybe I could stall.

"Shit, what hasn't happened, you know? I feel like, what else can happen at this point?" I asked, still circumventing the question. I thought I was doing a phenomenal job. How long could it last? Probably not much longer.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Why'd Dom punch the wall?"

"He got mad," I said. Wow, this segue didn't even allow the subject to change. If nothing else, it brought us even closer to the issue I was trying to avoid.

"No shit," he said sarcastically. He looked at me, cocked his head, expecting me to elaborate.

I just shrugged.

"Let, come on. Takes a lot for Dom to lose his shit. What happened?" he insisted.

I inhaled deeply and prepared for what I was going to tell Vince. I didn't have any clue as to how he would take the news. I had no idea how he would react. I was tired of being the one that got stuck telling people things they probably didn't want to hear. Normally, in my old life, my old world, I would have enjoyed telling people things that pissed them off. But so much had happened to all these people that I didn't want to be the one to reveal one more disappointing fact. I felt like I was just spreading the grief, or shit, or stress on thicker.

"Brian was here," I finally let out. I tried to say it quietly, as if that would make it better. It didn't, though.

"What?" Vince half asked, half yelled. "When?"

"Let's see," I said, trying to get my days straight. They were all running together at this point. "Two nights ago? Yeah."

"Why? Why the fuck would he be here?" he asked angrily. I knew that Vince wasn't angry with me, rather the situation. Vince, well, he frequently got obsessed about particular issues. And, for many years now one of those 'issues' was Mia. He didn't have the stresses of having to lead anyone. Vince was more than happy being a follower, going along with whatever Dominic wanted to do. But he would get fixated on things that would completely fill his mind. I think one of the reasons Vince and I had gotten so close is because we could be completely relaxed and honest with each other. Since he didn't really worry about many of the same issues I did, we didn't share any stress.

"You really got to ask me that?" I asked. "Why you think he'd be here?"

"Don't know why he'd dare step around here," he said. Never the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Come on, V, think real hard," I maintained.

"Mia? Was Mia here then?" he asked, as if a light bulb went off. There was no beating around the bush anymore.

I nodded.

"Fuck!" he said, quieter. "Thought you just said they weren't together."

"I said I didn't know. That's the truth. But, I don't think they're getting back together. But, I'll be damned if I try to guess anything anymore," I said, my voice clearly reflecting a somber mood. I didn't like what my life was right now. I was striving, with everything I had left, to cling to anything that was good. And, being surrounded by people who loved me allowed me to do this. But, I couldn't deny the fact that things were entirely awry.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked concerned.

I shrugged, "nothing."

"How you holding up?" he continued. I knew that Vince realized at this point that I may not be doing as well as I was trying to let on. I had a hard time hiding things from Vince and Dom. I hated that about them sometimes.

I laughed, mainly out of frustration from this question.

"That good, huh?" he joked.

"Better than you," I said, acknowledging his many injuries. I lifted up his shirt and noticed the large bandage wrapping around his entire stomach and abdomen area. It shocked me. I didn't realize he would be quite so intense. I guess that was naïve of me but…damn. Vince.

He nodded, "probably true."

"Everything's so fucked up," I sighed. It felt amazing to finally relieve this thought.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed.

"Think things will ever get back to how they were?" I asked. I hadn't had the nerve to ask anyone this. I felt like Leon was so shaken and I knew that Dom needed me to be strong for him. Vince was the only one I could be this honest with right now.

He shook his head, "don't see how they could."

"Think it was worth it?" I asked as I started contemplating the positive parts of our lives in L.A.- the parties, the cookouts, the thrill of the heists, the rush of the street races, the work in the garage, everything. Life had been good.

He hesitated before smiling. "Yeah, maybe. You?"

"We did have…a lot of fun," I said, agreeing with exactly what I knew Vince was thinking. We had had a blast. "As long as Jesse pulls through, it may all end up being worth it."

"Yeah," Vince agreed. "I mean we got fucked, and we made it out."

"We did get fucked. You got that right," I agreed. We were lucky.

Vince just continued to smile.

"Sucks though. I don't want to be in Mexico," I admitted. Of all places, I really didn't want to be here. I wanted to go somewhere else, anywhere else. I had absolutely no good memories in Mexico. And this experience certainly wasn't doing much to help that.

"Just cause we're here now don't mean we have to stay," he assured me.

"No way _we_ can ever go back to LA," I said.

"Yeah but I bet we could have some pretty rockin' times in South America," he said. I loved him for trying to cheer me up.

"No, I mean Dom. And if Dom don't go back there's no way I could either. You can go back to LA, though," I said. I knew that regardless of what Brian did, he could never get Dom off.

"And what?" he asked flippantly.

"Do what you do best," I started. "Fuck girls and race cars. Play a little guitar on the side."

"I really ain't given it much thought. Where I'd go from here I mean," he clarified.

"Shocker," I laughed. Vince was never much of a pre-planner.

"One day at a time," he smiled.

"Like an alcoholic," I joked.

"Whatever," he said.

"Well, I guess if the shoe fits…" I started.

"You two done in here or what?" Dom interrupted, standing in the doorway staring at us.

"We kind of had that nurse/patient thing going on. You mind?" I mocked.

"As a matter of fact…" Dom started.

"Thanks for waking me up to go with you guys, by the way. You know I wanted to help bail the coyote out of the pound," I interrupted.

"Next time Vince gets busted up by a shot gun, I promise I'll wake you up to come with us to the hospital," he said out of jest.

"Hey!" I tried to act mad.

"Hey," Dom replied. "You going to join the party or what?"

"Never passed up a party," Vince replied. With his right arm temporarily out of commission, he used his left to help edge himself to the side of the bed. He edged up slowly, using his left hand to hold his side. I hadn't seen the wound from his gunshot but I could only imagine the pain he was in. Dom rushed over and helped Vince into a standing position. I saw the painful expression that had formed on his face. It made me rethink my question – had it really all been worth it?

"I know you're better off than me. Get your ass up," Vince said, looking over at me after he was steady on his feet.

"Damn, fucking demanding," I huffed, standing up.

"It's my party," Vince smiled.

"No it ain't," I replied.

"Sure it is. We're celebrating the fact they didn't kill me. Plus I'm on all kind of medication so I'm going to get drunk fast," Vince said, easing his way out of the room.

"Good philosophy, V. You're definitely on the path to recovery now!" I joked.

"Next time, punch the fucking buster's head not the wall," Vince said as he passed by Dom, walking into the hallway.

Dom shot me a look. I knew he was mad that I told Vince. I was mad I had to tell him, too. That should have been Dom's job.

"What?" I asked defensively. He didn't want to start with me right now.

He sighed, turned around, and followed Vince into the other room. I watched him leave and just stood there. I needed to go out and be sociable. But, I really didn't feel like it. I walked over to my suitcase, grabbed some clothes, and made my way down the hall to the bathroom.

"Where you going?" I heard Dom call out to me.

I turned around. Where was I going? The house wasn't that big.

"Thought I'd made my way down to the library on the west wing," I said sarcastically. "I'm going to take a shower."

He shot me a half-smile in regards to the sarcastic statement I had made.

"Alright, well we're going to the beach. I got a cooler so we're straight there. Come on, tattletale," he said.

"Tattletale?" I asked, pissed.

He didn't respond. He just smiled and turned around.

Bitch.

I walked back to the bedroom and tossed the clothes back in my suitcase. I found my bathing suit and put it on instead. I dug around until I found some surf shorts. After I pulled them up and tied the strings, I headed into the other room. Dom was over by the refrigerator tossing beers into the ice-filled cooler. Leon was checking out Vince's many, many pharmaceuticals.

"What you got over there?" I asked.

"I don't know. A whole bunch of shit in Spanish. Heard they hooked you up, too," Vince replied.

I shrugged, "doctors got to be good for something."

"I don't even know what this says," Vince said, reaching out as Dom passed him a beer.

"Sure it probably says not to take with alcohol," I told him.

"I don't read that on here," he said looking quizzically at the bottles.

"Let me see," I said, reaching over and looking at the bottles. "You know alcohol is spelled the same in both languages."

"That's convenient."

"You should be cool with this one. I'd probably would watch it with the rest of these."

"Thanks a lot," he said sarcastically.

"I'm here to help."

"Alright, let's go. V, you want to get the cooler," Dom said, dropping it at Vince's feet. "Just kidding."

"I'm probably the only injured guy that gets around his family and gets ragged on."

"Aw. Suck it up you big baby," Leon told him.

We left the house and went out to the beach. It was hot. The sand burned my feet we made our way down closer to the shoreline. We all stopped when Dom dropped the cooler. I guess he had decided we were going to sit there. I didn't care. Leon handed out some towels. I spread mine on the impacted sand and sat down, putting my sunglasses on to block out some of the light.

Vince sat down slowly. He pulled off his shirt. As sad as the whole situation was, I couldn't help but laugh.

"What the hell?" he asked annoyed.

"You look like you were mauled by a damn bear or something. You're going to get some weird tan lines with that bandage on," I joked.

He threw his shirt at me. I balled it up and put it down on my towel as a pillow. I laid down. It felt amazing. I wasn't in any pain, at that moment, and the initial warmness of the sun reminded me of being in California. If I closed my eyes, I thought that maybe I could pretend I was home. I could pretend that Jesse and Mia were out running errands and would be meeting us later. I could pretend that we weren't in the predicament that surrounded us. I could pretend that things were better, normal.

All of a sudden, I felt something wet and cold on my stomach. The feeling caused my abdominal muscles to tighten, which caused a surge of pain to rush through my body. I shot my eyes open, slamming me back into reality.

"Jesus!" I yelled. Watching the beer bottle that had been temporarily perched on my stomach, being whisked away by Dom before any of the contents spilled. I sat up.

"Want a beer?" he asked innocently.

"Not on my stomach," I replied.

"It looked hot," he said.

I tried not to, but could not help but smile at that corny statement. I reached out and took the beer from him. The cool liquid felt amazing as it slid down my throat.

"Yo, bro, check out the local talent," Leon said, to no one in particular, about a group of girls walking up ahead.

"I like what I see," Dom replied.

"Let's go get them," Leon suggested.

I eyed Dom, waiting for him to attempt to respond to that statement.

"I'll let them come to me," he said, smiling at me.

I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I'm not," Leon said getting up.

"What are you going to do, bro? Go talk to them? You can't even speak Spanish," I said to Leon.

"I don't really plan on doing much talking. Besides, I know how to say tequila. How do you say body shot?"

"I'll tell you how to say sexually transmitted disease."

"Nah, I'm all set, thanks. V, dawg, if any of them's a nurse I'll send them over to help you lick your wounds."

"Man, fuck you," Vince said, really annoyed by all the ridicule.

"About to find out," Leon said scampering off towards the group of unsuspecting girls.

"What? You don't want to go with him?" I asked Dom. It always pissed me off when they did that, which is precisely why they did it.

"Letty," Dom said defensively.

"Dom," I said back.

"I'm good here," he said. "Besides, I know how to say body shot."

"I'll bet you do."

"Come here," he said, motioning to his towel. I scooted over. I leaned back against him. His skin felt warm. He wrapped his arms around me. It was comforting. Lightly, he kissed my shoulder and rested his head next to mine.

"How you holding, V?" Dom asked.

"I'll live. Least that's what they told me," Vince replied.

"Wasn't the same without you, man," Dom said.

"Fucking hurts, though," Vince said, reaching up and touching his side.

"You take anything?" asked Dom.

"Yeah," he said, smiling. "So, it's about to get a lot better."

TBC

---

AJ


	14. Chapter 14

A/N- Continue to own nothing. Also, I do not mean to offend anyone who is or has been affiliated with the DZ (Delta Zeta) sorority.

_It's about to get a lot better_. Thank God.

I repeated Vince's words to myself like a mantra. I liked the way that sounded. And, since Vince had arrived things had actually gotten a little better. Granted, it had only been several hours. There was still plenty of time for shit to hit the fan. But I had to hold on to the hope.

I reached for my beer, the bottom covered by the sand I was attempting to use as a koozie. I pulled the bottle up to my lips and let the liquid wash away some of my thoughts. The hint of lime filled my throat. It was familiar, and I appreciated that, being surrounded by an environment that was so foreign.

I leaned back against Dom, his chest hard and sweaty from the beating sun. I liked having him there. He could be my rock for a little while. I was tired of taking on so much responsibility. I missed the carefree days when none of us worried about anything, just lived for the moment. Granted, we did love the thrill of the chase. But, this type of chase was a little extreme. I felt like we were playing some sadistic game of cat and mouse. And here I was, a mouse, hiding under a damn sombrero.

"What's up guys? This is Mary Hannah," Leon said walking up with some girl.

No one responded. And, after a fast glance, I didn't even bother to make much of an effort to even look. I didn't really care who he'd found to hook up with.

"She's here with some friends on vacation," Leon continued, introducing us to a bleached blonde in a Ralph Lauren bikini. I only knew the brand because it was plastered all over her boobs. I looked up at her. She did not look like the type of girl that I would get along with.

"Hi," she said, he southern accent already extremely apparent. She smiled widely at our group.

"Mary Hannah this is Vince, Dom, and Letty," he said, pointing individually to each of us as he went.

"Hi Vince, Dom, and Letty," she repeated, still smiling. That could get really annoying.

"Mary Hannah…you didn't even have to make that up, did you?" I asked sarcastically. Got to love the southern belle.

"Excuse me?" she asked perplexed by my comment.

"Nothing. You'll have to ignore Letty. She's got an…interesting sense of humor," Leon replied.

I just smiled in return. Interesting, that was one word for it.

"Oh it's cool. No problems, we're on va-ca," she said.

Oh Lord. Va-ca? No, no, surely she did not just say that as a substitute for 'vacation'.

I couldn't help but laugh. This was too good. "So, Mary Hannah, what did Leon tell you _he_ was doing here?"

"He said you guys were here on vacation too. Spring break. Is that…not," she started to ask, confused.

"No, vacation, yeah. We're here on vacation too. Spring break," Vince interrupted. He let out a falsely excited yell. Smiling at Leon he said, "I love spring break."

"A long spring break," Dom added, with much less enthusiasm.

I turned around and locked eyes with Dom. We both laughed. It was about time someone brought around entertainment. I had not even contemplated the idea of how much fun spring breakers could be. I was considering it now. Thanks Leon.

"You want a beer?" Leon asked her, changing the subject to avert attention away from the blatant lie that was filling their dialogue.

"Yeah, definitely," she accepted. "So how long have y'all been here?"

"Um, I guess we all sort of got here at different times," Leon said. That was one way to look at the situation. This was funny. Although, Leon was handling himself pretty well. Lying was never his strongest area of expertise. That was clearly apparent.

"Oh that's neat. Are you all from California?" she continued, prying into our business. Yeah, she was definitely going to get on my nerves.

"No," I interjected. She needed to hush. I knew that the last thing we needed to do was get into a lot of history with a total stranger. I guess I sort of opened myself up for what happened next.

"So, Letty, what do you do?" she asked me directly. Shit.

"What do you mean 'what do I do'?" I asked snidely for clarification.

"Like for a living," she specified.

"Oh, um, I'm a professional interrogator and sometimes hit man, when the situation calls for it, for the Department of National Security, west coast division," I lied. It was the fastest thing I could come up with. Sometimes the spontaneous direction that my mind tended to wander frightened even me at times.

"Really?" she asked.

Was she really that stupid?

"No," I said bluntly.

"Oh, okay. Well that's good. That would be a little scary," she said.

"Would it?" I asked, with only a trace of enthusiasm.

"So what's it like coming on vacation with all these guys, huh? Pretty fun I'll bet," she said.

Was she really still talking to me? I wondered how much she was willing to bet.

She stared at me. Damn, what did this bitch want? I wasn't about to start having a private, girls-only conversation with her, that was for sure. I looked over at Leon. I saw him mouth the words 'be nice'. You've got to be kidding me!

"Yeah, I mean it has its advantages. So long as you don't mind a little herpes," I started. Of course, as soon as I dropped the h-bomb, Leon chocked on his beer. He coughed, trying to catch his breath.

"So what do you do, Mary Hannah?" I asked. I was really just trying to fuck with her, and Leon, at this point.

"She was just kidding," Leon finally managed to chock out, still coughing. Vince was laughing as hard as his busted up insides would allow. Dom was just smiling and shaking his head. 'Vacationing' with these guys definitely had its moments.

"Um," she started, a little flustered. "I go to the University of Alabama. I'm an elementary education major. So, I'm going to be a teacher. I just love kids, you know?"

"Hm, that's adorable," I stated sarcastically. Kids. Good luck with that Leon! He deserved whatever he got with this girl.

"So Leon, when did y'all get here?" she asked, positioning herself right beside him in the sand.

"I got here a couple days ago," he replied, placing one arm around her.

"What hotel are you staying at?" she continued with the twenty questions.

"We're staying at a buddy's house. Well, more like a friend of a friend I guess."

"Hey Mary Hannah, come here a second," someone called out.

"I'll be right back," she said, jumping up and bouncing over towards the voice.

Leon nodded at her as she ran down the beach towards a gaggle of bleached blondes that were busy working on their tans.

"Herpes? What the hell, Let? She gonna think I got that shit. Why don't you chill with the VD card, aight?" he asked me.

"Hey, Chatty Cathy, why don't you shut the hell up before you blow our cover?" I told him.

"She's like nineteen and lives in Alabama. I don't think she's much of a threat," Leon corrected me.

"Nah, bro, I think she's right. Why don't you quit talking with your dick before you say too much," Dom added.

"So, nah, that's bullshit. We ain't even allowed to talk to people down here?" Leon asked, obviously a little irritated by all the criticism he was receiving.

"Talk all you want. But since when's lyin' to a chick ever been an issue for us before?" Vince asked. That was true for all of them, even Dom. If they could lie to get out of anything, they would. It was an easy option. We were a group that chose the easy road every single time. This was no different.

"Shh, here she comes," Leon said to Vince.

"Shush? Don't shush me," Vince replied aggravated.

"So what did I miss?" she asked, bouncing around like a cocker spaniel.

"I'm getting in the water. Hand me a beer, Dom?" I asked, downing the one in my hand quickly.

He grabbed two and stood up. He handed me one and we both made our way down to the water. The sand was hot. I hadn't really been in the ocean yet. I imagined that it felt nice. Hopefully it would cool me off, both from the heat and my temperament.

I made my way down to the shoreline and let the water rush up against my toes. It was warm. I began walking in, feeling the wake crash against my ankles, calves, knees, and thighs as I got deeper. I wanted the water to wash me away too.

I stopped when I was about waste deep. Dom had followed me in all the way. It wasn't nearly as deep on him as it was on me. I sank down, allowing the water to touch my shoulders. I floated, slowly getting a little bit deeper.

"Had about enough of that, huh?" Dom questioned, motioning towards where Mary Hannah was still drilling the guys about their past.

"Are you kidding, man? I love her. I hope she sticks around," I said, completely full of sarcasm.

"Eh, Leon's done worse."

"Oh, I know. I've met them. Or at least seen them sneak out in the morning. Skanks."

Dom chuckled, pulling me closer to him.

"I just don't think we should be letting anyone in right now. Too much's at stake," I told him.

"It don't matter where we are. You don't never want to let no one into our team anyway," he stated, calling me out.

"It's different now," I told him.

"I know," he said. I saw the early signs of guilt rushing to his face. Shit. I didn't mean to make him feel guilty. This was not where I'd wanted this afternoon to go. I didn't think I could be the moral support for anyone else, anytime soon.

So, in an attempt to pull him out of any negative feelings, I leapt towards him in the water.

"Oh," he said, somewhat surprised. "Hello."

"Hi," I said. I leaned in and kissed him. I could taste the salt water on his lips.

I felt his hand grab hold of mine under the water. He turned me around so that my back was leaning against his.

"It feels awesome in here," I said, as he started slowly kissing my neck. That felt pretty awesome too.

"Mm hmm," he replied, somewhat. It was more of just a noise. He had stopped listening. He was focusing elsewhere. I wasn't about to interrupt that focus.

As his lips slowly inched their way down my neck and across my shoulder, I felt his arms wrap around my stomach. He pulled my body completely flush with his. His right hand moved down towards my bikini bottom. I felt him rub my lower abdomen. He traced his fingers around my hip bone, down to my pelvis. His fingers inched closer and closer towards my waistband. Suddenly, I felt my bikini bottom start to come off. I was a little surprised. The shock caused me to jump slightly. I smiled and looked at him.

"What are you doing?"

He shrugged. "What?"

"We can't do that here," I said, turning around and facing him.

"Why not?" he said, not really stopping. I could feel his hands still edging the bottoms down, despite my efforts to grad a hold of them.

"Gee, I don't know. Common decency?" I said, still looking at him. It wasn't that I didn't want to.

"Decency? Since when you give a fuck about decency?" he said, reaching back down for my bikini bottom.

"There's kids right there," I said, pointing over about 10 feet. I took his hand, before it wandered too far, and interlocked my fingers with his.

"It's Tijuana," he responded, as if that was some sort of an excuse. "There's some girl down the road that just brought a horse in getting ready to…"

I stopped him. "Dom." I knew what he was getting ready to say. That didn't have anything to do us, thank god. How other people opted to express their sexuality was their own business. Don't ask, don't tell.

"Fine. But I ain't giving up," he smiled. I knew he wouldn't. And I knew that I wouldn't resist forever. But, I would need a couple more drinks before I had sex with him in broad daylight, on a populated beach, in the ocean, in front of children. At least then I'd have an excuse.

"You're bad," I said. I took my free hand and splashed him with water.  
"Yeah, that's what the LAPD thinks, too," he smiled, almost cocky.

"Man, fuck the LAPD," I said.

"Not really my style," he said moving back in towards me, smiling.

"Yeah, guess that's more Mia's thing," I said. With that, he stopped moving closer.

"Oh, that was below the belt, Let."

"What, down here?" I asked, reaching 'below the belt'.

He smiled suggestively and nodded.

I moved my hand back up, out of the danger zone, and laughed. "Oh you Torettos. You're either fucking the law or being fucked by it."

"Alright, that's about enough of that," he laughed, holding his hand up and covering my mouth.

Dom never actually wanted to admit that his sister had sex. Maybe it was denial. Maybe it was just so he didn't try to kill all the guys she dated. Regardless, it was fun to joke with him about it.

We spent about an hour in the water. I made sure that the new tail Leon was chasing had dragged him off elsewhere before I was willing to resurface. The heat was excruciating outside the water. I realized that it was a completely different kind of heat than we had in Los Angeles. It was not one that I wanted to grow accustomed to.

Dom and I slowly made our way back to the shore. I noticed that Vince hadn't changed positions. He could not get in the water because he was not supposed to get his bandages wet. So instead he buried himself in the sand like a sand crab, or a two-year-old. It was a pretty humorous sight. He looked fast asleep. It was times like that, I really regretted not having a Sharpie marker. It would have been pretty funny to permanently write the word 'herpes' on his forehead, just to keep up with the theme for the day.

"You ain't supposed to leave a fallen man behind," a half-asleep Vince peeped out.

"That's in the army, or navy, or something," I replied. "I don't think _they'd_ even take you right now."

"Besides, we came back," Dom added.

"How you feelin'?" I asked him.

"Think I'll live. It's gonna hurt like hell to stand up, though," he muttered.

"Well ain't no need to stand up right now," Dom said, making himself comfortable in the sand, right beside the cooler. "Beer?"

"Think I'm all set right now," Vince replied.  
"Whoa, you ain't drinkin'? You sure you're okay, man?" I asked him. Vince turning down a beer. That was a monumental event. To my knowledge, that had never happened before. It was like seeing Halley's Comet, only happened once every 75 years.

"Very funny," he responded, eyes still closed. "I'm just bronzin' over here."

"Suit yourself," Dom said, pulling a beer out of the cooler for himself. No sooner did he twist off the cap that the head of the bottle was to his lips.

"You gonna share one of those?" I asked Dom, hands on hips.

He shook his head no.

I just rolled my eyes at him. He smiled, still not allowing the bottle to leave his lips. With that, I took my hand and tipped the bottom of the bottle up, causing some of the liquid to spill out the sides. It dripped down his cheeks, most landing on his shorts, but some hitting the sand. He quickly pulled the bottle away from his mouth. Dom took his hand and wiped his mouth, shaking the excess liquid from his hand at me.

"Letty, now that's just wasteful," he shook his head at me, trying to be serious. I wasn't going to buy into it.

"Just give me one," I demanded.

He hesitated. Smiling. Looking down at the spilled liquid on his shorts and on the ground.

He looked up at me and perked his eyebrows.

God, sometimes he was so exasperating. It was precisely these times that I remembered why I loved him so much. He knew how to get to me, exactly what buttons to press. And he pressed them so well. When he was trying to drive me crazy, it made me love him even more. It reminded me of the Dominic I knew as a child, not the cocky, arrogant man he pretended to be most of the time. But the one who's world centered around me, around his friends, around his family, and around infuriating all of us. So much had gotten blurred in our lives. But, it was these moments that reminded me of what we used to have. Of the way things were before money and image became so important.

Reluctantly, he handed me a beer, refusing to wipe that ridiculous smirk off his face. It made me want to slap him and kiss him all at the same time.

"Your welcome," he said as I received the beer.

"Yeah, yeah," was all I said in response to that. I wasn't mad, just slightly annoyed. I hated that I cared about him so much, relied on him so deeply.

We spent a couple more hours drinking and shooting the breeze. I didn't know what time we had gotten out to the beach, but I knew that we hadn't seen Leon in a while. That made me smile. How he managed to find skanks in only a matter of hours in foreign countries was beyond me. But he had in fact succeeded. It's too bad that talent couldn't be translated in developing a plan for where we were supposed to go from here. No one had even started talking about that yet.

As the sun started to dip a bit lower in the sky, I decided to call it a day. I'd had just enough beers to get a little tipsy and just enough sun to almost be burnt. Now, I just wanted a shower.

I went back into the house. Without Mia, I knew it was going to be pretty gross very soon. I ignored the mess and made my way into the bathroom. Turning on the water, I adjusted the temperature knobs. I stepped in, the warm water hot against my skin. It felt wonderful.

When the hot water began to run out, I figured I had been in there for ample time. I got out of the shower and dried off. I wiped the condensation off the mirror. My cuts and bruises were starting to fade. Thank God. I grabbed the comb that was sitting by the sink. I didn't know who it belonged to but it really didn't matter. I knew it wasn't Dom's. I ran it through my hair and wrapped the towel around me. I opened the door and felt the cool air hit me.

I heard music coming from the den. But, not good music. What the hell were they listening to? I walked into the bedroom. I shut the door and opened my suitcase. I pulled on a tank top and a pair of shorts.

I threw my wet hair up in a messy bun. I couldn't wait to go out into the den and criticize the guys for the lame music they were listening to. I really hoped that Dom had put it on because then I could rag him for days. Vince was impaled so that took a little bit of the fun out of giving him a hard time about stuff. Oh, and if it was Leon, I would never stop giving him shit about it. This was going to be fun.

I walked out of the bedroom and into the den. I was shocked. I stood there, stunned. It looked like a sorority house, or a brothel, if there was a difference. It was almost like an after-race party full of skanks but all of the girls were wearing shirts with Greek letters or other college paraphernalia. I was pretty sure that this was my version of hell.

"What the fuck is this?" I asked Dom as he approached me. I noticed some random bottled-blonde following him. This could get ugly.

"What? This ain't your scene Letty?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Um, no."

"Here," he said, handing me a beer.

"Hey Dom," the girl came up from behind, touching his arm. I looked at her. I wondered what this bitch needed to say to him. I dared her to try something. Double dared. "Want to dance?" she asked him.

I perked my eyebrows up at him. Ball was in his court now. I couldn't wait to see how he was going to handle this. I crossed my arms and stared at him. Waiting.

"I don't think so," he said, locking eyes with me. I didn't budge.

"Oh come on. Just one? Please," she said as she used her index and middle fingers to trace up the side of Dom's arm.

I will cut this bitch up. What the hell did she think she is doing?

"Nah, nah, I can't. But I'm sure one of these other gentlemen would love to dance with you," he said, removing her hand from his arm. He let it go gently, still looking at me. What did he want? Did he want me to say that he could dance with her? That wouldn't happen in this lifetime. Did he want to prove to me that he wasn't going to dance with her? Well, sure he wasn't. Not while I was standing right there within tackling range.

The girl stopped, stunned. She looked at me and cocked her head. She thinks she doesn't like me now…I could make her really hate me. She let out an annoyed sigh and turned around abruptly.

"Yeah, you better turn around before I make a carpet burn on your face," I muttered low, but loud enough for her and Dom to both hear me.

"What?" he asked, questioning the look that I was giving him. He shot me an all too familiar, and annoyed, look. "I said no."

"How's she know your name Dom?"

He shook his head at me. "Seriously? Letty, come on."

He always acted like I was completely ridiculous for getting mad. But I knew he flirted with these girls when I was not watching. He liked the attention. I knew that they would not come over to try to get with him if he hadn't given them some indication that they had a shot. I wasn't ridiculous. Dom hadn't ever acted on it, that I knew of, but he did still flirt. He was a guy. I guess it was just innate. Or at least it was innate with him. Flirting came as natural as breathing. But that was no excuse. And after all we had been through, not just the past few days, but the past few years, it was getting really old.

He knew just as well as I did that none of those girls would stick by him the way that I had. They didn't know him. They wanted to get with some guy that was solely a façade, a reputation, an exterior. If they knew Dom, the real Dom, and all his baggage, they would not come with in 100 yards. He wasn't exactly the kind of guy you wanted to take home to meet Mom and Dad. Luckily, that was a non-issue with us. I always figured the definition of true love was just finding someone that could put up with all your shit. Guess Dom and I were made for each other. At least right now.

"Hey yo, killer," Leon called out. I didn't even respond until he said it again, much closer to me. "Killer."

"Me?"

He nodded. "What are you doing?"

I was confused so I just shrugged. Too bad it wasn't multiple choice. I couldn't tell what he was looking for.

"That's Mary Hannah's little sister. Be nice to her," he reprimanded, indicating the girl that had just tried to dance with Dom. I couldn't give two shits who she was. I would have said the same thing to anybody.

I just shot him a look. What was he asking me to do? Oh Leon. I was disappointed. He was getting hung up by the short and curlies by some 'Easy DZ'.

"Leon you brought these skanks in our house, man. You control 'em and I won't have to."

"Jesus, Let, a little hospitality would be nice," he joked.

"What are you trying to do here, bro?" I asked.

"Just have fun. Can we just have fun right now? We can all go back to being miserable real soon. But, come on girl, let's just chill for a second," Leon pleaded.

"Whatever," I said, turning around and somewhat blowing him off.

Have fun? Sure. I could have fun. I just had to remember how to have fun. I tried to remember back to the last time I had fun. I smiled when I remembered exactly when it was. The day we finished working on the Supra. That was a fun day. I wondered how long it would be before we had a day like that. Looking around, I could help but think it would be a long time.

I made my way into the kitchen. Fun. Apparently I thought I would find 'fun' in the kitchen. Nope, didn't look too fun in here. I saw Dom's cell phone laying on the countertop. I picked it up. I walked back into the bedroom. Lying on the bed, I opened it up and called the only other person I was sure was not having fun.

"Hello?"

"Mia, it's Letty."

"Letty! Thank God," her voice full of desperation.

"What's wrong Mia?"

"It's Jesse. He's not doing very good. They, well, I don't know. They said he's lost of blood." I could hear panic and concern in her voice.

"Wait, I thought he was okay. What happened?"

"I don't know. They won't tell me anything."

"What do you know?"

"They took him out of the ICU this morning. But not long after that he started crashing. They put him back in and that's really all they told me."

"So what does that mean?"

"I don't know. Nothing. I don't know anything. I'm sorry. I don't want to upset you. I should have waited to say something until I knew more information."

"Nah, Mi, it's cool. I want stay up on what's happenin' with you guys there. Do you need me to come back?"  
She laughed. "Letty you can't come up here. It's fine. I can handle this. You need to stay down there. At least I know that you guys are safe. How's Vince?"

"He's…" I started, looking out the bedroom door, down the hall, into the room they were partying. I caught sight of Vince and noticed some girl handing him a beer and kissing his cheek. "He's surviving."

"How are you?"

I wished that I'd kept count of how many people had asked me that.

"Fine," I let out bluntly.

"How's Dom?"

"Oh, he's doing great. He's loving all the imported talent here," I said unable to hide the annoyance in my voice.

"What do you mean?"  
"The house has been taken over by sorority sluts," I informed her.

"What?"

"Yeah. Exactly. Compliments of Leon."

"Well listen, Letty, don't kill anybody. I think enough people have gotten hurt for a little while. You hang in there. Keep an eye on them. Make sure Vince is taking it easy," she responded.

"Oh, he's taking it easy," I chuckled.  
"And try to keep Dom in check," she said.

I scoffed. "Don't know about that?"  
"What happened?"  
"Nothing. Nothing unusual anyway."

"What did he do?"

"Just being Dom. Listen, Mia, I got to go. Keep me up on Jesse. Okay?" I didn't want to get into it with her. She needed support, not to hear me complain about my relationship problems. And, I didn't want to giver her anything else to be concerned about.

"Yeah, sure. I'll call as soon as I know anything."

"Take it easy, girl," I told her.

"Bye," she said.

I clicked the phone off. I leaned up against the wall in the bedroom. Jesse. He had to be fine. Poor Jesse. The kid had been through too much to let it end like this. I remembered the day that I knew Jesse was part of the family. The day that I realized we would have to take care of him. Images of the day the cops came and took Jesse's father away flashed through my mind like a bad acid trip:

"_No! Dad!" Jesse yelled as the police officer held Mr. Rauch at gunpoint. _

_A younger policeman came up and grabbed Jesse. I ran in from the other room. I had been there helping Jesse with his Spanish homework, by chance. I pulled the cops arms, trying to get him to release Jesse. It was useless. Another cop grabbed me before I could make any headway. _

"_Get on the ground, Jake. It's over," the officer stated boldly.  
I noticed Mr. Rauch looking down at Jesse. Jesse was fighting with the cop, tears running down his face. I heard him continue to yell. _

"_It's ok, Jess," Mr. Rauch stated, slowing getting to his knees. He placed his hands behind his head. _

"_Jacob Rauch you are under arrest for armed robbery, battery, possession of stolen property, and grand theft auto. You have the right to remain silent…" the cop continued. _

"_No! Let him go. Dad!" Jesse yelled. He struggled to run after them as they locked handcuffs on Mr. Rauch._

_With that, Jesse wiggled free from the cop's embrace. In the blink of an eye, the gun that had previously been pointed on Mr. Rauch was pointed directly in Jesse's face. _

"_Son, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. You decide," the cop said, cocking the gun. _

_Jesse's face went pale. _

"_Damnit, Jesse, stay back," Mr. Rauch yelled. _

_The cop slowly lowered his gun. He took a hold of Mr. Rauch and led him out the front door. _

_I watched. I was too stunned to fight the cop. I supposed that he still had a hold of me. But, I was just watching Jesse. I watched his tears. I watched his anger. I watched his sadness. His life was being changed, right now. It's strange how there were moments in each of our lives that we know forever changed, forever shaped the people that we became. This was Jesse's. _

"_No," he cried, falling to his knees, holding his face in his hands. He leaned forward, his back arched as the sobs spilled out. _

"Who was on the phone?" Dom asked, interrupting my memory. Thank God.

I stared at him. Like he cared. I thought they wanted to have fun.

He perked his eyebrows, waiting for a response.  
"Mia," I told him.

"What did she say?"

"Jesse. He's not doing too hot. Hope you guys are having fun because the people who are actually dealing with all this ain't having nearly as good a time," I stated solemnly.

TBC

---

AJ


	15. Chapter 15

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dom asked, his voice slowly rising.

"You need me to spell it out for you?" I asked flippantly.

"You think I ain't been dealing with this shit? You've got to be kidding me. Letty, that's all I've been fucking doing," he remarked sternly.

"How exactly?" I asked, cocking my head. I was really pissed now. I don't think I was even pissed at him. But, all I knew was that I was pissed. And this was how it was coming out.

"I'm not doing this right now," he stated and turned.

"Surprise, surprise," I muttered as he walked out the door.

I collapsed back on the bed behind me. I regretted yelling at him. No I didn't. If he hadn't been such a hardheaded asshole we would never be in this situation. If he would learn how to listen to other people. If he would learn that he didn't know everything all the time. If only. Maybe we wouldn't be in this position. No, we definitely wouldn't be in this position. If he had listened to us, saying that we did not feel comfortable going on the last heist, we wouldn't be here. We would have found Jesse. Vince wouldn't be hurt. Mia wouldn't be alone. And I wouldn't be here, in purgatory.

Suddenly an inordinate amount of rage began to build up inside of me. It felt hot, bubbling from my stomach. It seeped through my veins, spreading like a wildfire. I had to get out of here.

I jumped off the bed and made my way over to the dresser. I grabbed my bag and stuffed everything that I saw into it. I walked down the hall to the bathroom and raked everything that was mine into the bag before zipping it tightly. I didn't know what my plan was. I just knew that if I didn't get out of this house immediately I was going to do something I really regretted.

I walked back into the party, not daring to look at a single soul. I didn't know if Dom was in there. Hell, I didn't care. I grabbed my keys off the counter and dashed out the door, trying to move quickly so that no one could stop me. I stepped out into the sweltering heat and opened my door. I threw my bag in the back and revved my engine. I took off. I didn't know where I was going to go. Hell, I didn't really know where I was. I just knew I didn't want to be there right now.

I turned on the radio. To no surprise, Spanish stations blared. I couldn't take that right now. I skimmed through the channels quickly, trying to find something familiar. I needed familiar. Just then, I heard it. Sabbath. Black Sabbath. And my thoughts immediately went back to Jesse. Jesse knew two things, engines and metal. I could hear him now, _you know Black Sabbath actually started heavy metal…_

At that moment I knew where I needed to go. I needed to go see him. It was a sign. I mean, what were the odds of hearing an English version of "Computerized God" in the middle of the evening in Mexico? I didn't think they could be too high. I think it was the guilt, the feeling that I had abandoned him that I was mad about. I wasn't mad at Dom, well not completely. Mostly, I was mad at myself.

Now I just had to figure out how to get back to Los Angeles from here. After more than a couple of wrong turns, I came across I-5 North. I was just relieved that I found a road that I recognized. I knew I was on the right track now. Getting back into the country would be trickier than leaving. But, I made it through with no more than a couple of raunchy glances from the boarder patrol. I got on the CA-15 N and than the I-805 N to Los Angeles. It felt good to see that sign. After about an hour and a half of driving, I figured it would be in my best interest to pull over and call Mia. Of course, payphones were not nearly as abundant as they used to be. I stopped at a convenient store and got gas, using a disgusting looking payphone on the side of the road.

"Hello," I heard Mia say hesitantly.

"It's Letty," I responded.

"Where are you calling me from?" she asked curiously.

"Guess no one's called asking about me, huh?" I could not hide the disappointment in my voice.

"What do you mean? Are you okay? Are you not with the guys?"

"No, I had to get out of there, Mi," I said reluctantly.

"Where are you? Did something happen?" she asked frantically.

"I'll explain when I get back."

"You're coming back here? Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"Mia, I have to. I need to see Jesse. I just can't be around Dom right now. I'm only about an hour, maybe a little further."

"Okay. Well be careful. Call me if you need anything, girl."

"Don't worry, Mi. I'll be there soon," I said hanging up. I turned around and walked back to my car. I wondered how long it would take the guys, take Dom, to notice I was gone. Only time would tell…

TBC

Short chapter but at least I've got it moving again and actually have a plan. That's a pretty good start.

AJ


	16. Chapter 16

As soon as I got back in the car I felt better. For the first time in a while I was making my own decisions about my life. I knew what I needed to do and how to do it. A feeling of contentment that I hadn't had in a while suddenly overcame me.

I thought of nothing but the road. And, I wanted to get back as quickly as my car would take me.

My thoughts were racing past everything that had happened. It seemed like so long ago since I had been in L.A. But, in reality, it had been only a short amount of time. The streets were so familiar. I passed popular hangout spots and remembered the days before the heists, when all we had to be concerned about was being pulled over for speeding or illegal mods. When had everything gotten so complicated?

I pulled up to the fort and turned off my ignition. I sat in the car for a second, contemplating what I had just done. I had just left Dom. I left him in Mexico. I didn't even tell him I was leaving. Was I really that mad? No. But he was going to be. Shit. I was not ready to face that phone call.

"Letty?" Mia called, running out of the house. The porch light framed her all the way up to my car.

I got out of the car, ready to be bombarded with questions, but not really ready to do any talking. I gave her a hug as she pounced on to me. I knew Mia must have been lonely. This only helped to confirm my suspicion. It was then that I realized how glad I was to be back home. I had never wanted to run away. What was I really running away from? It's not like any trucker could identify me. I had run away with Dom. Was that really the right decision? I'd done it because he told me to. I'd done the heists because he'd told me to. Granted I didn't put up much of a fight, at least not until this last one But, maybe it was time I did things for me.

"Oh my God! What happened? Dom's been calling. The guys have been going crazy. Why did you leave? Are you okay? What's going on?" she asked, about a million miles an hour.

"Whoa, easy there chica. I don't really feel like talking right now. Can we just go inside? I promise I'll explain everything. But outside, not here, not right now."

I grabbed my bag out of the car, slammed the door, and locked it. I walked inside, without waiting for a reply. She followed. The house smelled different. It smelled clean, not like beer. It was sort of a nice change.

"So do you want something to eat or drink?" Mia asked, closing the door and coming inside with me.

I shook my head no. I didn't want anything right now. My stomach was in knots. But I was exactly where I wanted to be. I was home. "I think I'm just gonna go to bed. I want to go see Jesse in the morning. You wanna come?"

"Yeah, we can do that," she replied. "Are you gonna call Dom? He's called like four times looking for you."

Again, I shook my head no. I don't know why. I just needed a little time. I didn't offer her any response. I just grabbed my bag and walked upstairs. I made my way into our room. It was so much better than the room we shared in Mexico.

I closed the door and dropped my bag. I sat down on the bed and just looked around. I saw pictures of us. I grabbed the closest one, one from a picnic when we were still just teenagers. It wasn't long after we had started dating. I was smiling at the camera. Dom was looking at me. I hadn't really given much thought to the photo in the past. But, the way he was looking at me, it was so intense. He didn't look at me like that anymore. Or, if he did, I never noticed. I knew we still had love. But, did we have that same kind of love? What we had back then?

I didn't know what was making me second-guess the intensity of our relationship. I knew, if anything, I was the one who had just fucked it up by running away. But I was suffocating. I had to get out of there. I did still love Dom. I loved him with every fiber of my body. He was all I had. I didn't have any family to run back to. All I had was Dom. And despite everything, losing him would mean losing everything. My world was his world. I felt obsolete without him.

I felt so conflicted. I wanted to run to him, apologize for leaving, and hope he'd understand and forgive me. But, at the same time, I hated how much of my being he consumed. I wanted to see who I was without him. I feared, though, that I'd be nothing. I knew that it wasn't just Dom. It was Leon, Jesse, Vince, Mia, all of them. It was a package deal.

But I couldn't live this way. Seeing my friends shot. Running from the law. That was never the life that I'd wanted. Sure our escapades were fun. But, now the magnitude of our actions was real. As idiotic as it sounds, they never seemed that real before. The reality of the situation hadn't set in. It had now.

And now I just had to decide, was I going to live the life of a fugitive with the man I love? Or, was I going to give up the only life I'd ever known, and be someone else?

I didn't even realize I'd fallen asleep until I awoke to Mia gently nudging me.

"Letty," she said softly.

"Hm," I moaned.

"Dom's on the phone," she said, holding out the portable for me.

Oh bummer. I had to talk to him. The phone was practically in my face already. I didn't know what to say. And, I really didn't want to hear him yell, though he had every right to. The thought of what was to come made me start to feel a bit nauseated.

"Hello?" I said sleepily, sitting up against the pillows.

TBC

Sorry it's short but I wanted to get it up. The conversation is to come so stay tuned…


	17. Chapter 17

"What the hell are you doing?" was all he asked. There was definitely anger in his voice. But I guess that was to be expected.

"I just had to come back, Dom," I told him. Plain. Simple. I had a good feeling that he wasn't going to accept that as a sufficient rationale.

"Not without tellin' nobody you didn't," he replied.

"I called Mia on my way up here. And she ain't even heard from you at that point," my voice slowly revealing more and more anger with each word.

"Why would you do this?" he said. I could hear his heavy footsteps pacing through the phone.

"How long did it take for you to notice I was gone, huh?" I asked, trying my best to subside the anger. Though it wasn't working.

"That ain't even the point," he quickly retorted.

"Isn't it? Because I think that's a _really_ important point." It was. Why was it okay for us to go our separate ways when Dom made the call, but not when I did? If I could just up and leave for Mexico with Leon, or he could just up and flirt with some random skank, then what did it all mean? Were we still playing those same petty games we played as teenagers? Emotional Russian roulette.

"You'd gotten pissed. Leon had asked me where you were and like an asshole I thought you were in your room fucking sulking."

"No need to check on me, right? Not when you got plenty of skanks around to occupy your time." Sarcasm and disdain were dripping from every word that escaped my mouth. I wasn't even thinking about what I was saying; I was reacting.

"Letty, fuck, I'm not going through that with you for the 800th time. And, I have _never_ just picked up and left without telling you."

"Nope you just do whatever you want whether I'm there or not."

I heard him sigh heavily. There was a long silence between us. I needed to figure out exactly what I was trying to get out of this conversation. Was I trying to get Dom to notice me? Give me support? Be with me? Or was I actually trying to separate from him? Right now, I didn't know.

"Listen I don't think it's safe for you there, okay?" he finally let out.

"I just need a little time. The cops aren't hunting around here right now. I need to figure out what's happening. Everything happened so fast." I explained the best I could. But, in all honesty, I didn't even know why I was here. I hadn't acted on logic, more like on instinct, feeling. And sometimes that was impossible to explain.

"Why're you acting like this? Is there something you ain't telling me?" he asked suspiciously.

"Ugh, dios-fucking-mio! No," I replied honestly, exasperated, and indignantly. "I just felt like I was suffocating down there."

Dom let out a sarcastic sigh. "Fine. Do what you need to do." And that was all he said. He hung up the phone. I knew he was angry.

I pressed the off button on the portable phone and laid it beside me on the bed. I just looked at it for a minute, almost in a daze. What the hell was I doing?

Should I call him back? What would I say? I didn't know why I needed to be here. Why I needed to be here more than I needed to be with him right now. But I did. Everything was changing and I needed to figure it all out.

I heard a small knock on my door. I hadn't even noticed Mia leave after she gave me the phone.

"Come in," I responded.

She walked in, or rather tiptoed, as if the delicate balance to our universe hadn't already been thrown out of kilter. Mia didn't dare disturb any lingering peace.

"Is everything okay?" she asked hesitantly.

"Probably not," I replied, a half-hearted laugh escaped at the thought of everything that had been happening.

"Why did you leave?" she asked. I knew Mia was not trying to pry. But I also did not know what to tell her.

"I don't know, Mi. I really don't. I mean everything happened so fast and I before I knew it I was in Mexico surrounded by people I didn't know while my family was falling apart. I never wanted to leave Jesse. And I haven't been able to get him off my mind. I had to come back for him. And for you, girl. Everything changed instantly and it was just too much," I tried to explain.

I don't know if she understood what I was saying, but she smiled and nodded, the way Mia always did when people she loved were concerned.

"You know I'm the last person who's gonna try to stick up for Dom, or well at least when it comes to you, but he loves you Letty. When he didn't know where you were, he was really scared. I could hear it in his voice. He was worried. I don't know what happened between you guys exactly but don't give up. You guys will work it out, you always do."

Sweet Mia. We all knew she would take Dom's side to the grave. But he was her brother. I knew where she was coming from. But her words spoke to me. Usually she would sit around with me and talk shit about Dom, behind his back of course, when he had done something to make me mad. But I knew she was telling me the truth. And it helped to hear that.

I just smiled at her, the best smile I could muster, and nodded.

"Okay well visiting hours are from 9 to 6. When do you want to go?" she asked, changing the subject. Thank God.

I turned my head and looked at the clock. It was almost noon. I had slept something like eleven hours. I started to sit up, stretching. I felt more rested than I had felt in days. And I was hungry. Really hungry. I tried to remember the last time I had eaten.

"Let me just jump in the shower. Is there any food here?" I asked standing up and walking over to the drawers to grab some clean clothes.

"Sure. You get ready and I'll fix lunch. We can leave after we eat," she assured.

"Sounds like a plan. I can't wait to see how he's doing," I told her as she left the room.

TBC

AJ

Okay guys so it's been like 300 years since I've updated – I'm so sorry! But I've already started working on the next chapter. So say tuned to see how Jesse is doing, what's really going on with Letty, and if this act completely alters the dynamics of their relationship and how Dom deals with everything.

More exciting chapters are to come, I just had to start back up somewhere.


	18. Chapter 18

I followed Mia into the hospital. The familiar sounds and smells of hospital and formaldehyde bombarded my nostrils. It took me back to that Mexican hospital I went to with Leon. I had to really focus on just walking, one foot in front of the other, not to have some crazy acid-trip flashback. Mia did not even stop at the information booth but instead lead straight to the elevators. She pressed the 'up' button and we both waited in silence.

When the elevator arrived, we stepped inside. She pressed the button to take us up to the sixth floor. I waited as other people piled in as we made our way from floor to floor.

Finally, when we arrived on the sixth floor. I continued to follow Mia. We followed the signs leading to the Intensive Care Unit. As we approached the ICU, all I saw were lines of hospital beds surrounded by nurses and lots of machines.

Mia casually walked into one area. A boy in a bed. Hooked up to machines. All I heard were beeps. Good beeps, bad beeps, I had no idea. White covered everything I could see. There were white walls, white bed sheets, and a snow white face on Jesse. I had never seen him that way. He had some tube coming out of his nose, and other places I couldn't really make out. My heart sank. Completely sank into my chest. How could I be off at a beach in Mexico when Jesse was laying here just like this…all alone? I realized that I had made the right decision. Fuck what Dom thought. I was being there for Jesse. Dom should be here too. The whole family should be here.

Mia walked up to Jesse's bed. I stood back, unsure of what to do, or what to say. I didn't want to hurt him. He looked so fragile just lying there. His eyes were closed.

"Jess, you awake?" Mia asked softly, gently brushing his forehead with her fingertips.

His eyelids stirred before opening completely. He looked up at Mia and a smile ran across his lips.

"Hey," she said in a very motherly tone. "How you doing?"

"Never been better," he joked, his voice sounded hoarse and weak.

"Look, I brought a visitor," she said, motioning his line of vision over to me.

"Letty?" he asked in disbelief. "What? What are you doing _here?_"

"I came to see you, man. You look like total shit by the way," I told him, smiling and walking up towards the bed.

"Hey!" he replied, pretending to be offended. His voice didn't have that same lively tone and excitement that it usually did.

"Fine, you look like regular shit," I offered back.

He let out a soft, breathy laugh. I could tell he didn't have a lot of strength to muster up much else. It made my heart ache. I hated seeing him like that. And knowing that maybe there was something that I could have done to avoid this all.

"What are you really doing here? I thought you guys were south of the boarder by now."

"Nothing's the same without you, bro. I had to come back and whip you into shape so we can get the team back together. You know, do some more damage," I offered, trying to make light of the situation. It was hard. I joked so I didn't cry. Maybe if I could see him laugh, I would forget how weak he looked. How young. He was just a kid. And we were his family. We were supposed to protect him.

"I didn't for you to get hurt. I'm so sorry, Jesse! I'm so sorry. I could have helped you. It didn't have to be like this. You gotta hold in there, bud. You gotta get better. I can't make it without you," I said, knowing there was no stopping the tears at this point. It wasn't until now that I realized the magnitude of this situation. Jesse could die. Jesse almost died. To live life without him, without my brother, I couldn't bare to even think about it.

"Letty, listen to me girl. Really listen, okay?" he said seriously.

"Okay," I said, trying to choke back tears. I didn't want him to see how upset I was. Though I imagined I was doing a pretty shitty job of hiding it.

"You didn't do this. I did this. I just wasn't thinking and I was scared. I'm sorry! I never meant to hurt you."

I couldn't help but spit out a tiny little laugh. Leave it to the guy hooked up to crazy hospital monitors to be the one who feels like he needs to apologize. Jesse. God love him.

"Jess, you ain't got nothing to apologize for. Please. What can I do? What can I do to help you? Make you get better?"

"It's good to see you, Letty."

"It's good to see you too."

I used to think that it was all so simple but now I know things are a lot harder.

"I just want a cigarette. But, you know, you can't smoke in a hospital,"

"I mean I ain't no doctor but you probably shouldn't smoke when you're like hooked up to breathing machines and shit," I responded.

"Technicalities," he responded half-heartedly. Despite everything, he still had the same personality, the same humor as the same Jesse we had seen at Race Wars.

"They treatin' you pretty good in here?" I asked.

"Food sucks and they come in every five seconds to check something but other than that I'm golden," he said.

"You ain't had any cops or anything come by have you?" I inquired.

"Nah. But what's this I hear about Spilner? Or O'Connor? Or whatever it is you guys are calling him these days?"

"Oh Jeez, that's…a long story," I told him.

"Well, it don't look like I'm goin' anywhere any time soon," he replied.

I nodded in agreement. "Okay," I caved, trying to even begin where to start. "Spilner is actually O'Connor. He's a cop, or he was a cop, that part I'm still a little cloudy about. But he definitely was when he came in and climbed all up Dom's ass and thought he was part of the team."

"A cop? Oh, Vince was so right about him. He called that shit from day one. I remember we were working on these camshafts and you know how I feel, I mean that's like the brains of the engine! And the thing about a car you wanna race, they need a camshaft with as much of a lobe lift as possible. And, also, like a really high degree of duration. It needs to have a narrow lobe-separation angle which will give you a valve overlap. But, even with that the idle quality is going to suck…" he went on. I saw a spark of his spirit coming back to him when he was talking about engines. Yep, that was our Jesse.

I had to laugh at Jesse's ADD clearly taking over. "Hey, Jess, let's reel it back in. We were talking about the fucking cop."

"Oh," he let's out a breathless chuckle, "right. So, wow. I can't believe he was really a cop."

"Yeah, no shit. So, you know, Vince got knocked up pretty bad. And O'Connor called a helicopter to airlift him to a hospital. So that pretty much blew his cover. I thought that'd be the last time I ever saw him. But then a few days ago I woke up and he was at the house we've been staying at in Mexico. He was there just talking to Mia like everyone in that house didn't wanna kill him. I thought Dom would have too when he saw him," I explained softly so no one could hear.

"Yeah, me too," he agreed.

"But then he left early that next morning and we haven't heard from him."

"Crazy."

"Tell me about it."

"So, why are you here? I mean, why aren't you in Mexico with everybody else?"

I shrugged. "I just wanted to see you."

"Bullshit, Letty. I know that ain't the only reason."

"I just got sick and tired of takin' Dom's shit," I admitted meekly.

"What's he done now?"

"Ain't nothin' new. It's always the same shit, different day. I mean he practically air fucks girls right in front of me. After everything that's just gone down, I needed some space."

"Take it easy on Dom, okay?" he asked. "I mean he's probably been through hell and back with all this stuff."

"I'm kinda convinced that we all have at this point."

Jesse nodded but didn't say anything. He started coughing. He took his hand and covered his mouth. Damn, it sounded like he was about to cough up both of his lungs. When he pulled his hand down from his mouth, I saw blood.

"You okay? You need me to get someone?" I asked, really unsure of what to do but also very freaked out.

He just shook his head as he wiped his mouth. We were just having a conversation. So normal. I almost forgot about how hurt Jesse was. I didn't know what was going on. But blood coming out of your mouth couldn't be a good sign.

"Coughin' up a lung or something?" I asked, doing my best to bring some lightness to the air.

He laughed. But it obviously hurt because I noticed that his face winced, as if from some internal pain. "Probably like three or four," he responded, lightheartedly. I couldn't tell if he was scared or not. But Lord knows I was.

Just then, as if from no where, I saw the eyes roll back in his head. I thought he was playing around at first. But then machines started making noise. Things were beeping and going off filling the once calm environment with tension and chaos. People rushed in from every direction, moving curtains, and moving me.

"Ma'am, we're going to need you to step out,"

"No, no you don't understand. We're family. This is my brother," I told them as they hustled me out of the way.

People were injecting his IV lines with clear and colored liquids. Checking his vital signs. I didn't really know what all they were doing.

"What's going on?" Mia asked from behind me. In all the ruckus I hadn't even noticed that she had come back.

"I don't know. I…I don't know. We were just talking and then he started coughing up blood and then, hell, shit started beeping and…I don't know," I told her franticly, still not taking my eyes off of Jesse. We waited. I don't know how long we were there just watching people do different things to Jesse.

"You're Jesse Rauch's family?" a nurse asked, walking up to Mia and me.

"Yeah," we replied in unison.

"He's had a fever which has spiked into a seizure. The doctors are working to stabilize him now. I am sorry but you will have to go. We will call you if there is any change," she told us. I could tell that she obviously had to report bad news to families a lot because she was trying her best to be sympathetic.

"What was his fever? Do they feel like he will seize again?" Mia asked. I was just going to ask if he was going to be okay. But her question sounded a lot better.

"At this point, all I can tell you is that they are doing their best to stabilize him. He is going to need a lot of rest tonight and his muscles will most likely be really tense. We will call you the minute we know something further," she explained.

Mia and I just looked at each other. I was fighting to hold back tears. I wasn't going to break down. Not in this hospital. Not right now. Not in front of Mia, and for Jesse. I needed to be strong. I came here to be strong for them. I couldn't let them see me when I was breaking. I couldn't let them see that I was falling. I had to cover it up, somehow. There wasn't a lot I knew at that point, but I was really glad I was there with Mia. I was terrified that Jesse wasn't going to make it. He was just too young to die. It wasn't fair. We couldn't lose him.

Mia and I exited the hospital much like we entered it, totally silent.

The ride back from the hospital was filled not with words, but with thoughts. The silence was deafening but I didn't have anything to say. And to be honest, I was scared of the directions that my thoughts were taking me. Death. I flipped on the radio, curious as to what Mia was listening to these days.

The music rang through her speakers.

"_You might have heard that I run with a dangerous crowd. We ain't too pretty, we ain't too proud. We might be laughing a bit too loud, but that never hurt no one…."_ I instantly recognized the song. It was old school Billy Joel. I listened to the words, hoping that he had some advice to offer me, or comfort, or something. I mean having "Only the Good Die Young" playing on the radio when you're leaving the hospital had to mean something. I wasn't so sure if I liked the message though. "_They say there's a heaven for those who will wait. Some say it's better but I say it ain't. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun. You know that only the good die young."_

Only the good die young, I repeated the words to myself in my head. Well, hell, I didn't know of anyone that would describe us as good. Maybe there was hope for us after all. With the sage advise of Billy Joel, maybe I could believe that all the fun we had, as masochistic as it may seem, could possibly be our saving grace after all- or at least Jesse's saving grace. I had no idea what was going to happen for the rest of us. I needed to believe, at least right now, that despite everything bad that happened to Jesse, good stuff was about to come even stronger.

TBC

AJ


	19. Chapter 19

We pulled back up to the house. I looked at the clock, it was almost four. I was so tired, just feeling completely drained. My stomach was still in knots. I really thought that would go away after a night's sleep back in my house, my familiar bed, and a good meal made by Mia. But that had not done anything to help settle it. The longer I thought about it just made me feel more nauseated.

Mia led the way inside and just sat on the couch. She looked just as tired as I felt.

"So what do you want to do the rest of the day?" she asked, her words interrupting the heavy silence.

I just shrugged. I didn't have a lot of energy to do much of anything. But it was only 4, too early to go to bed.

"Are you planning on staying for a while?" she asked.

"I don't know. I ain't really got plan," I confessed to her. It would have been smarter for me to actually figure out what I needed to do before I just aimlessly drove back to LA. But, it wasn't like me to do a lot of pre-planning. I was more impulsive than that. I guess I got that from being around Jesse so much. His ADD was rubbing off on me.

She nodded, seeming to understand whether she really did or not.

"What's going on at the garage? Is it just closed down?" I asked. I realized the guys were obviously not working there but when we left for Race Wars we had parts on order from Harry's and work orders that were still open.

Mia smiled, trying to hide how much stress she had been dealing with since we all just up and ran off.

"Um, I've actually asked Hector and Juan to step in and finish up the cars that are there now. When they get done, I guess I'll just close it down. I didn't want to shut it down the second you guys left town because I thought that would make it really suspicious for the cops. I know they have been by there several times. Hector has been amazing at coming up with good covers about where you all are," she explained.

"Hector and Juan? Are you serious? They don't know an axel from an exhaust!" I was shocked. Of all the mechanics, or semi-mechanics that we knew, she picked Hector?

"Well they already knew what was going on with everything. I didn't want to have to include more people in this than we already had, you know? I mean that's a lot to put on people that aren't even family."

She had a point. Damn. I hated it when that happened. It was probably a really smart decision. It wasn't like they couldn't do the work that we had left. They probably wouldn't do it with the same style and accuracy that we could have done it. But at least the work would get finished. And she also had a point about keeping the garage open for a bit. If they hadn't already found evidence from Spilner/O'Conner, regarding why we all jetted out of town the second shit hit the fan, they would soon. I mean, our absence made it really obvious as to who was behind the heists. This could hopefully provide a little bit of a cover for a while.

"You think I should go up there? Give them a hand? Show them how to do shit right?" I asked her.

Mia scrunched up her face, thinking. "No. I think you should just stick around. I mean Dom wanted you guys to lay low for a while so that's probably the best idea."

"Oh yeah, because Dom's definitely proven himself to be the king of good ideas."

"Yeah, that's true. But I think when it comes to this, he may be right. But don't tell him that I said that. Lord knows he doesn't need his ego raised at all."

"You got that right."

"I mean I do think, or well I know that this whole thing has really been a lot for him to deal with," she started but I interrupted.

"God I'm so sick of hearing how hard all of this is on Dom. I mean it's fucking hard on all of us. Me and Leon got shipped of to Mexico without a second thought. Jesse's still in the hospital and won't be out for who knows how long. And Vince's arm is fucked to hell," I ranted angrily.

"I didn't mean it like that," Mia replied apologetically.

"I know. I didn't mean to blow up at you. None of this is your fault and you're handling it a lot better than most of us!"

"How is Vince?" she asked, somewhat out of the blue.

I shrugged. I hadn't seen him since the party. And he seemed to be having fun there. "He was getting along just fine when I left. I mean he was in a lot of pain but the guys seemed to be doing a pretty good job of helping him forget about it."

"Typical," she responded. And, I nodded in agreement.

"You still think there might be something there between you guys?" I asked her.

"Well sometimes I think about it. But I heard from Brian yesterday, before you got here," she informed me.

"So what the fuck is going on between the two of you?"

She shrugs.

"Nope, that's not answer. You're gonna have to pair that with some words if you want me to drop it."

"Brian lied to me. And…"

"And?"

She shrugged again.

"I mean girl, you're right. He did lie to you. And that's a fucking dick move. So, does that mean that it's over between you two?"

"I don't know. Normally my answer would be 'hell yes'. But there's just something different with him. And, I know you don't like him and don't wanna hear me say that. But there is. I mean even though he lied to me, I do still care about him. And I think about him."

"So you wanna be with him?"

"I really, I really just don't know. I mean because there's also been something between me and Vince. I never in a million years thought I'd have any feelings for Vince. But I guess, after almost losing him, I realized how much he really does mean to me. Vince is a good guy. He's never hurt me and I honestly don't think he ever would. But then I don't know how Dom would feel about that, you know?"

"Mia, Jesus, you have been through enough shit- do what you wanna do. Quit askin' for everyone's approval and acceptance. Don't give a fuck what anybody else thinks. Do what's gonna make you happy, what makes you feel alive again. If that's Vince, I totally support you. Fucking jump his bones, dude, I will pay for the hotel room myself. Lord knows the boy's been waitin' long enough. And if it's Brian, well, then we'll find a way to deal with it. Just figure out what you need to do for you. You know no one thought me and Dom getting together would be a good idea….and look how well that turned out!" I let out sarcastically, as it obviously had not been the healthiest thing in my life. But it had been the best. I guess it wasn't all sarcasm. There was definite truth behind it.

We both just laughed together.

"Well I can honestly say, I'm kind of in the same boat as you and Dom. I'm not with either of the guys that I like because of the team and your crazy ass stunts."

"So is it just that the idea of being with Brian takes you back to when we were all together?"

"What? You're thinking that since my family just fell apart I want to run into Brian's arms just to find some security and familiarity?"

"Actually, that's not what I was thinking at all. But, hello Psych 101!"

"I am _not_ taking psych," she stated adamantly.

"Whatever."

"I just don't know. I can't seem to sort out my emotions right now. I mean what if I just sort of kept going with both of them until I could work out what I'm thinking and feeling. It's not like I have a commitment to either of them right now. So it's not exactly wrong, you know?"

"Well, it's not exactly right either."

"True. But black, white. Hey, I'm a Toretto. Grey is my favorite color."

Yep, and that's what made the entire Toretto family impossibly infuriating. The phone ringing interrupted my thoughts. Mia and I looked at each other. The phone ringing, during a time like this, could never really be a good sign. It rang several times before Mia reached over and grabbed the portable.

She looked at the screen, for the caller id information. "It says blocked."

"Don't answer it then," I told her.

"What if it's important?" she asked.

"Then answer it. There's really only two options. But if you don't go ahead and decide it won't matter," I responded.

"Hello," she said softly, obviously answering. "This is she…oh hey thank you for calling. What's going on…okay…how long will that last? Is there any updates on….I see. Yeah, I understand. Okay, well let me know if there is any change. Thanks, bye."

She hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" I asked her.

"That was Jesse's doctor. He said that they have him stabilized and that he is just resting right now."

"What happened? What do they think's goin' on?"

"They said they are still waiting for the results back on the tests they ran. They are going to call back whenever they know something more."

I nodded. God, I was hoping for good news, for once. But I guess it wasn't exactly bad news. Maybe I should rejoice for that at this point.

Mia and I just sat there in silence. The house was quiet. I knew the boys were loud. But had never realized quite how much of a presence they were until they were gone. Isn't that just like life, never realizing what you have until it's gone.

"So you want to go get some dinner somewhere or something tonight?" Mia asked me.

"You know, maybe. But I think I'm just gonna go take a nap," I told her. I was just so tired. With the exception of last night, I hadn't had a good, quality sleep since before Race Wars. That seemed like a decade ago.

"Ugh, you're no fun," she joked as I made my way for the steps.

"Well maybe that'll give you time to work out your little love triangle," I smiled at her before walking upstairs.

It was hard to even carry my body up the steps. In the back of my mind I was just trying to ignore the persistent thought that there had been something that happened in the accident that the hospital didn't catch. At this point, how could anything else go wrong?

I opened the door to our bedroom. Ours. It was not exactly ours right now. It was just mine. He was not here. But despite the fact that he was not physically there, I could still feel him there. I could smell him. The scent of his cologne still lingered, leaving a light fragrance in the air.

I crashed on the bed. I pulled off my shoes but did not even bother changing clothes. I pulled the other pillow, his pillow, close to my chest. I felt like crying into it, if I had any tears left. I didn't so it was not even an option. I just held it tight. It smelled like him too. I looked around the room, still light because the sun hadn't set. How many memories we had in this room, it was countless. And most of them good. Even the bad ones were better than now, better than where we were now. I did not know what was going on with me and Dom, or me and the team, my family. Everything had gotten so screwed up.

I fell asleep just thinking about how I wished things were. How they used to be. I woke up. It was dark outside. I did not know what time with was, but I was so tired. I got up and went to the bathroom. I drank some water. Mia was obviously asleep because the house was dark and silent. I fell back into the bed. I drifted off to sleep before I was even able to look over at the clock. By the time I woke up again, the sun was in my eyes. I just turned over, pulled the covers over my head and drifted off again. I woke up several more times and just turned over, readjusted the covers or pillows and fell back to sleep.

I woke up again, it was dark outside. I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep, or if the sun from earlier was just a dream. I heard a knock on the door.

"Let, you okay?" Mia said, peeping her head in the room.

"Yeah," I said, not getting up. "Just really tired."

"Do you want some food or anything?"

"I'll get some in a little bit," I told her. I heard her respond and leave the room.

I turned back over and fell asleep again. I developed a pattern of waking up, either going to the bathroom, getting water, or turning back over and falling asleep. Nothing was really worth waking up for. The bed was comfortable and that was what I wanted- comfort. I don't even know how long I stayed in the bed. I would not go as far as to say that I was depressed, maybe I was. I just knew that I had nothing to stand up for, except to keep from wetting the bed or satisfy my dry throat.

"Okay get up. I'm tired of this," Mia said, storming into my room. I guess she figured that I had been laying there. Doing nothing. For, probably days at that point. I wasn't moping. But she probably thought I was.

"Get out," I groaned at her in an annoyed tone.

"You're not doing this. You need to get up. You need to shower. You need to do something. We're going out tonight. And no is not even an option," Mia said, pulling the covers off my head.

"Er, you're so annoying sometimes," I groaned again.

"Come on. Up. I'm not leaving. I'm gonna drive you crazy."

"Too late," I responded, trying to pull the covers back over my. It was no use. Mia had a death grip on them.

"Come on. You've got an hour," Mia replied.

Slowly, very slowly, I peeled myself off of the bed. I sat up, looking around. I did not feel like going out. But, knowing that Mia would not relent, I stood up and made my way over to the bathroom. A shower would probably feel nice.

"You start getting ready," Mia said as I walked into the bathroom. "I'll make us some drinks".

Drinks? Now that was a language I could speak.

I turned the water in the shower and adjusted the temperature. I stepped in. Feeling the hot water beat like a pulse on my skin, washing away the past couple of days, washing the bed away from me, the misery of having nothing. It felt good. The steam quickly filled up the bathroom as I washed my hair and shaved. I stepped out of the shower, the floor was cold but the mirror was completely fogged up.

I slipped one towel around my body and wrapped the other in my dripping hair. I opened the door to the bathroom to find a very excited Mia holding two glasses.  
"Here," Mia said, handing me one glass.  
I accepted it, hesitantly. Mia was not known for her excellent taste in drinks (more girlie taste in drinks), nor was she known for her bartending skills. I looked into the cup and couldn't even begin to identify the liquid substance. "What is this?"

"Wine," Mia responded.

I shot her a glace. "No thanks."

"It's cheap wine. You'll like it. Just drink it."

"Well with all that build up," I sarcastically replied. I took a sip. It wasn't that bad. But I'd never admit it. I was a beer girl. Not a wine girl.

"Now what are you going to wear?" Mia asked, walking over to my closet.

"Ugh, I really don't want to go out,"

"Yeah, but you need to. I'm doing an intervention here," Mia said, starting to throw clothes options on the bed. I walked over with my glass and sat down amongst all the clothes. I took another big sip and finished off the glass. It wasn't half bad. While Mia continued to rummage through my things, I walked over and grabbed Mia's glass to drink.

"Here," Mia said, holding up a tank top and skirt. "This works."

"I don't know," I said, downing Mia's cup.

"Just put it on," Mia sighed. "Did you drink my wine?"

"I don't know," I lied. Clearly I had. She knew it. She didn't care.

"Refills," Mia said excitedly.

Sometimes that girl's enthusiasm could really gripe at my nerves. I knew what Mia was trying to do. I appreciated it, sort of. Mia was not going to allow me to wallow in my own self-pity. But I could not understand how she was not doing the same. All this was just hard to swallow right now. I didn't feel like going out. I sure didn't feel like being civil to strangers. Ugh.

"Here," Mia bounced back in with another couple of glasses. "You need a little liquid courage."

I looked in the glass, noticing it was not the wine from earlier. "What's this now?"

"We're taking shots," Mia said, holding up her glass in proper cheers fashion.

I laughed. Shots. Always the start of a good night. I just shrugged and clinked glasses with Mia. I downed the shot in a single gulp. The hot liquid ran down my throat, almost making me gag. What did I really have to lose at this point?

"Ew, what the hell was that?" I cringed.

"We only had some old vodka downstairs."

"Well, thanks for sharing."

Mia shot me a thumb's up as she continued to rummage through the closet. Guess we were going out. I hadn't been out with just Mia in a while. Maybe it would be good for me. I guess I had to leave this room eventually.

TBC

AJ

A/N- Get ready for girl's night out on the town!


	20. Chapter 20

Mia decided to drive to the bar. We both knew that tonight would be a "call a cab" kind of night. She had picked out an outfit for me to wear. I could care less. She also put forth the effort of actually fixing my hair- instead of letting me just air-dry it and go one my way. It was fairly straight, with an organized wave throughout. I actually fought her on the makeup. It was our standard routine. She always wanted me to wear far more than I was willing. In the end, we compromised with Mia doing what she wanted and me huffing and complaining the whole time.

We got into the car. I still didn't have a lot of energy. And that shot was wearing off. I wanted to just go back to bed. I think that was why Mia wanted to drive- so I'd be stuck.

Mia pulled her car up to an old hangout spot. It never mattered if we were 21 or not, they didn't card us. The music could be heard loudly before we even stepped in the door.

We walked up to the bar. It was crowded.

"Okay ladies, what are we drinking tonight?" a new bartended asked, coming up to us and eyeing Mia intensely.

"I'll have a cranberry and vodka," Mia said.

"Wow, you really are going all out tonight," I commented to her. Usually she would order water and say she would drink later- a later that never came.

"Told ya," she responded.

"How 'bout you, baby?" the bartender asked, shifting his creepy eyes over to me.

I just shot him a look. Did this guy think he was smooth? We wouldn't even be over here talking to him if he weren't the gatekeeper of the alcohol. Ugh, the shit I had to put up with when I actually dared to go around people.

"Captain and coke," I told him. "Actually, make it a double."

Mia looked at me and smiled as the strange bartender got to work on our simple drink order.

"What? You make me come out, I'm getting fucking trashed."

She just nodded and dropped it.

"Two drinks, for two pretty ladies," he said, setting our glasses on the bar.

"How much?" Mia asked.

"This round's on me, sweetie," he winked at her.

What a douche.

"Aw that's so sweet, you are so nice," Mia responded. Surely she wasn't actually buying into this fake act. I hope she was just milking it for more free drinks. It was hard to tell with her sometimes.

"Anything for you, baby. You're the prettiest girl in here. What's your name?" he asked.

Good Lord.

"Mi…"

"We have to go over here," I interrupted, grabbing Mia's arm and pulling her across the room.

"Hey," she responded.

"No. That guy's a fucking loser and you're already caught in a crazy love triangle. Figure out that before you make things more complicated with some bartender that just wants to get in your pants."

"Yeah, okay."

"So…we're out. What now?" I asked her, changing the subject. I lifted my drink to my lips. It was cold. And strong. Really fucking strong. I needed that. House whiskey was gross. Captain was better. This amount of Captain, still pretty gross. But at this point I wasn't going to discriminate. I was an equal opportunity drinker tonight. I wanted to drink away some memories. Some pain.

"Wanna dance?" Mia asked, taking a big gulp of her drink. From the way Mia was drinking tonight, I had a feeling she wanted to wash away some pain or memories with alcohol also.

"Not drunk enough for that," I told her.

Just then a couple of random guys strolled up to us. One of the guys was your typical frat boy. Blonde hair, clean cut, collared shirt, khaki pants. He couldn't be further from my type. His friend sported a scruffy appearance. He looked like he hadn't shaved in weeks. He had shaggy hair, looking like he hadn't cut his hair in months. His shirt was wrinkled and his jeans sagged. Though he was more my type, there was something missing.

"Hey," Mr. Clean Cut said to Mia.

"Hi," she replied innocently.

"What's up?"

"Just hanging out."

"I'm Mark, this is Chad," he said, motioning to his accomplice.

"I'm Mia. This is Letty," she said, introducing both of us, despite my willing her not to.

"Mia. That's an awesome name. You girls here all alone?" he asked her. His friend looked just as uncomfortable as I was.

Mia shrugged. "Just us."

I finished up my drink and put it on the closest table. Chad still didn't move. He looked stoned. I couldn't tell if it was drug induced, or if that was just how he looked. Mia followed suit, completing her own drink.

"How long have you been here?"

"Not too long. How about y'all?"

"About an hour I guess. Scene's pretty lame tonight," Mark said, looking around. "Well I thought it was until I noticed you."

Mia smiled. She had a good sense of humor about lame guys. If our guys would have been here, this would have been the very moment that Vince would have walked up and put his arm around Mia. Dom would have come up and stood close to me, just looking at the other guys until they walked away. But they weren't here. It was just us. And we could do whatever we wanted.

"So Mark, what do you do?" Mia asked.

"I work at an advertising agency," he replied.

"Oh that's cool. Do you get to help come up with commercial pitches?" Mia inquired further.

"No actually what I do is try to decide which color background is going to be the best to use in the commercial. For instance, yellow suggests something very bright, bubbly, and clean, whereas blue or green would tap into more of the natural, home-oriented types of advertisements. It's really interesting," he said, much more excited that anyone that was being forced to listen to this conversation.

"Kind of playing it fast and lose with the word _interesting_ there, aren't ya Mark?" I made fun of him. Not like he would be able to notice. But, interesting, yeah right. That was so far from interesting.

"So, Chad…what's up?" I asked, trying to start a conversation, something I was never very good at.

He shrugged. "Just trying to get drunk."

"Welcome to my world."

He continued to stand there. Guess he didn't want to talk. I couldn't blame him. I didn't want to talk to him either. Mark and Mia were quickly engaged in some conversation that apparently only included the two of them.

I waited a few minutes for them to stop. The buzz from the drink was starting to hit me. I didn't want to lose it. We needed more drinks.

I tapped Mia on the shoulder, "hey, go flirt with that douche bag bartender some more and get us some free shots."

"No, you do it," she urged.

"I don't think I wanna drink that bad," I said, rolling my eyes when I looked over at the bartender.

"At least come with me," she told me.

"Are you gonna use that as your opening line?"

"Hm?" she looked confused.

"You know 'cum with me'. God, you're slow!" I said, attempting to make a joke. Failing miserably apparently.

"Ew, you're gross. Sorry if my head's not constantly in the gutter!"

"It's okay."

We walked up to the bar together. It was pretty crowded. I just pushed people out of my way until I reached the plastic covered fake wood that was the bar.

"Jeez, there's a lot of people here. And I don't know any of them."

"Yeah, thank God," I told her. The last thing I wanted was to run into someone that we knew. I definitely couldn't handle the questioning right now.

"Antisocial much?"

"Just not really in the mood to answer a lot of questions," I admitted to her.

"Yeah, I get it," she replied.

"You really diggin' on that Mark guy?"  
"I don't know. He was cute. Seemed like a nice guy."

"That's what you said about Spilner."

"Touche."

"Ladies, back so soon! Do you need drinks or did you just miss me too much?"

"Little of both," Mia smiled, really turning on the charm. She lifted her arms on the bar and shifted her weight so her boobs were in full exposure. Captain slick immediately averted his gaze right to her cleavage.

He smiled back at her. "Well," he said reaching out and brushing her arm, "I can be very helpful."

"We aren't nearly drunk enough," Mia started. "I just had so much drama with this guy I used to date and I just need to get drunk," she continued. "You know…and maybe make some bad decisions."

Damn. Girl was really pulling it out. It was comical to watch. Like a really bad soap opera.

"Well baby I don't know why any guy would ever give you drama. You are like an angel. In fact, did it hurt?"

"What?"

"When you fell from heaven?" he asked, plastering on the corniest smile I had ever seen.

Oh Lord! I hadn't heard that lame pick up line in about ten years.

Mia giggled.

"So, Romeo," I said, stepping in to stop the madness. "My girl here needs to take a shot with me. Can you do that?'

He looked over at me, noticing me for the first time since we'd approached the bar. "I got mad skills…in several different areas. What kind of shot can I get you?" he asked Mia.

She shrugged.

"Let's get two red headed sluts," I ordered.

He looked back over and nodded. "I prefer brunettes myself," he stated before taking out his shaker and mixing together the various ingredients.

He sat down two heavily loaded shots in front of us.

As was habit, we began out grand shot tradition.

"Okay, let's see…to working through triangles," Mia said, lifting her glass up to 'cheers'.

"To dodging bullets," I added.

"To surviving," she said.

"Cheers," I concluded, clinking our glasses and brining the shots to our lips.

I let the liquid, sharp and cold, run down my throat. I tasted it. I closed my eyes. Feeling the liquid run down my throat. Listening to the music. Hearing the bass thumping against my eardrums. I was present. I was in a familiar place, with a familiar person. Life was good.

"Mr. Whatever the fuck your name is, gimme another one," I yelled out to the bartender.

"John. My name is John," he told me.

"Of course it is. They're all John's. Well, John, can I have another?" I asked him, trying to be a little more polite.

"Drunk Letty's fun!" Mia commented.

"And about to get a lot fun-ner."

As I took another shot, and another, I noticed Mark and Chad making their way up to the bar towards us. Mark stopped in front of Mia. Chad still looked awkwardly out of place.

"Why don't y'all come back to our place. We'll just watch a movie or something. I had a lot of fun talking to you. I don't usually connect to a girl like this. I'd like to get to know you better," Mark told Mia. I could barely listen to the pile of bull that he was loading on without cracking a smile.

"Where do you live?" Mia asked. Was she falling for this? No, no, no. We were neither one drunk enough- or at least I wasn't drunk enough- to make bad decisions about going home with randoms.

"Here," he said, handing her a piece of paper. I assumed it had his address on it, but who knows.

"Okay, we got to close out our tab," she told him.

"Well just come by when you finish here," he told her.

"Yeah," she agreed.

I pulled her back over to the bar. We just weren't safe anywhere. This girl needed a constant babysitter tonight. And I was soon to be far too drunk to play that role. I had to set some ground rules right now.

"Okay, Mi, step one, don't listen to that guy or that guy," I told her pointing to the bartender and to Mark, as he made his way out of the bar.

"What's step two?" she asked, her words starting to slur.

"No step two. Just the one step. Should be easy enough to follow."

"He's so cute though!" Mia gushed. "He reminds me of Toby. Do you remember Toby? Toby was so cute!"

Toby was a guy she dated in high school. Your typical all-American boy. He was a football player. They dated for a couple of months. But they were too different. They came from two separate worlds. The relationship was doomed from the beginning.

"I remember Toby. I remember it not working out with you and Toby," I reminded her.

"Did I ever tell you about what happened the first time we hooked up?" she asked, a mischievous grin across her face.

"Um, I don't know."

"We were at his parents house. They had gone out to dinner. We were watching a movie and ordered pizza. And we just started kissing," she started.

"Wow, sounds like a lifetime movie, sorry I missed that great story."

"Shut up! So I'm on top of him," she continued.

"Oh this is how every good story starts," I said, my interest sparked.

"Do you _want_ me to tell you or not?"

"Sorry, sorry, go ahead."

"Okay so we had been making out for like ten minutes. And I was on top. We were just sort of dry humping, you know? He starts to take off my shirt. I heard something but I just thought it was his bed squeaking or something. So he gets my shirt off and tosses it…"

"And?"

"He tosses it right into his mother's face."

I started laughing, "wow, that sucks."

"Oh God, I wanted to die."

"Ladies, these are compliments of the gentlemen at the other end of the bar," John the bartender said, putting two extra large tequila shots down in front of us.

Mia and I looked down at the shots and then, in unison, looked across the bar. Two guys that looked like they had stepped right out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue lifted up their glasses at us.

"This is new," I said to Mia. I don't know if we were just really on tonight, or if finally ditching all the scary looking guys that we were always with just allowed other guys an opportunity to move in. Either way, free drinks, I liked it. Before I could really respond, Mia had licked the salt, downed the shot, and was sucking on the lime.

She looked at me. "What? Are you a nursing major?" she smiled.

"It's been like two seconds," I replied.

She put her used lime on the bar and then reached over, grabbed my glass, and took my shot as well.

"Damn girl, should you be doing all that?" I asked Mia.

She downed the shot that was touching her lips and slammed the shot glass on the bar. She shook her head as she lifted up the lime, "probably definitely not." Her voice slurred. She smiled up. "Want to do one with me?"

"You're not going to steal it this time?"

She just shot me a look as she flagged over John.

"Okay," I agreed, knowing what a bad idea it was. Once shots started, it was downhill fast. But life had been such an up hill battle the past couple of weeks, maybe soaring downhill was exactly what she needed.

"Oh my God, look at that guy," Mia said, pointing to a guy in the distance. She was pointing to one of the two guys that had bought us shots. He was standing with a group of guys. Only change from earlier was that now he didn't have a shirt on. I had no idea why. Drunk guys liked to take their shirts off. That was the best I could assume.

"He looks like he's been fucking photo shopped," I told her. He looked so fake.

"I know. He's gorgeous."

"Whoa, look who's back from underground," Hector's familiar voice echoed from behind me. Shit, so much for not running into anyone I knew.

"What's up man," I said, turning around to greet him as Mia talked to the bartender.

"How you doing?" he asked, suggestively.

"What do you mean?" I responded, lowering my voice.

"I heard a lot of talk. Sounds like shit's really hit the fan for you guys," he said, expressing concern.

I just sighed.

"What the fuck have you gotten yourself into kid?" Hector asked.

"I'm not a kid."

"So that's your excuse for all this shit? You aren't a kid? At least if you were a kid you could blame age."

I shrugged.

"It was all Dom, wasn't it?"

I couldn't answer that question. I didn't know what to say. Was it all Dom? Part of me just wanted to scream HELL YES! But another part of me refused to answer. That part was dominant. I couldn't speak. I couldn't put it all on Dom. God I wanted to.

I looked around. A lot of people were paired off. God, how easy it must be. Their lives. Meeting regular guys, with regular jobs, and regular families. Not worried about going to jail for 15 to 20 years. Not worried if your boyfriend was going to be caught, or shot, or worse. Not worried about your friends. If they raced against the wrong people, that was it. I didn't even know where my family was tonight- at least not all of them. All these people in the bar, smiling, so carefree. I wondered what it must be like.

TBC

AJ


	21. Chapter 21

I opened my eyes. It hurt. The tiny part of the shade that allowed light to seep in was able hit me directly in the eyes. My head hurt so bad. I felt nauseated. And my mouth had never been so dry in my life. I was officially hung over, hung over to the tenth degree. Fuck.

I rolled over so the light was out of my face. I closed my eyes, trying to decide if I had the drive to get some water. Before I could decide, I fell back to sleep.

When I woke up the second time the sun was in my face again, but it was dimmer. I rolled over on to my back. I noticed that my shoes and skirt were still on, but I was only wearing a bra, no shirt. I glanced down at the floor, found my shirt.

How drunk was I?

Really drunk.

I was trying to figure out the last thing I could remember. Taking tequila shots with Mia? No. Talking to Hector? Was that before or after the tequila shots? How did we get home? I don't even remember coming to bed. Wait, well I do a little bit. Shit. I pulled the covers over my head. I didn't do anything stupid did I? Fuck, probably. I remember talking to Hector. I think I even took shots with Hector. Then…

I had to get some water or I was going to die. I pulled my limp body out of bed. I walked over to my duffle, pulled out some boxers and an old shirt, changing before I went to get a drink. I made my way to the kitchen. I saw some bottles out. We had obviously decided to drink more when we got back home. I think I kind of remembered going through the fridge and pouring drinks. I think I do.

I grabbed a glass, which proceeded to knock the others as I pulled it from the cabinet. The clinking intensified my headache. I filled up the glass from the sink and chugged the water. As I refilled the glass, I searched desperately in the nearby drawer for Advil.

I found it. There was a God after all!

I pried open the child proof cap and swallowed three. It was a 3-Advil kind of headache.

Just then I heard someone shuffle down the stairs. Who was here? Mia? I hoped Mia was here. And just Mia. Lord, I hoped she didn't bring home that guy, who was he? I wanted to say that he worked for Abercrombie and Fitch. But I couldn't remember if someone told me that, or we made it up, or where I had heard it.

"I want to die," Mia groaned, sitting down and putting her head on the table.

I grabbed a glass, filled it with water, and gave her some Advil. That was really our only hope at this point.

"Fuck, dude," I said.

"Ugh," was all Mia could muster.

"What even happened last night?" I asked.

"I don't know. We drank too many tequila shots. Damn Hector."

"We did take shots with Hector," I said, more to confirm my own memory.

"Like, a thousand."

Just then, the phone rang.

"Oh, make it stop," Mia cried out.

I looked around but could not find the portable receiver anywhere. The ringing continued. Over and over.

"Seriously, Letty, stop the madness," Mia groaned louder.

"Okay, no, I can't find the phone," I said frustrated. She could have helped.

I located the receiver and pressed the _talk_ button just before the machine picked up.

"Hello?" I said, wondering what time it was and who would dare to call right now.

"Let? It's Leon."

"Leon, what's up man," I said, my voice hoarse.

"Uh, just doing damage control. I wanted to call and make sure you and Mia were alright. I know you guys were pretty fucked up last night. And I just wanted to see if you were doing okay after everything that happened."

"Gotta admit, I've felt better. But I'm alive. Wait. What do you mean 'after everything that happened'?" I asked, as somewhat of an afterthought.

"You and Dom broke up last night. You don't remember that?"

I was shocked. We broke up last night. That feeling when you are riding up a rollercoaster and then you reach the top and the ride zips downhill. That feeling like you maybe left something at the top. That was the feeling I had. I thought back to last night. It was all a little blurry. But hearing Leon mention it, I thought hard.

**- Flashback -**

"Hello," Leon said, answering the phone. Music and people could be easily heard in the background.

"Let me speak to Dom," I insisted. After a night of shots, I was ready to face Dom.

"Letty?" an assumingly very tipsy Leon asked from the other end.  
"Yeah, it's Letty. Let me talk to Dom." I was pacing. I couldn't sit still. We had just gotten back to the house. Hector gave us a ride. A couple of his friends were here for a late night. I had just made drinks for everyone. Though the pacing was causing me to spill most of mine.

"Okay drunky, hold on a second," he said.

"I'm not d-drunky," I stuttered drunkenly.

"He-ha ha- hello?" an obviously drunk Dom laughed out.

"Who's, who's there?" I asked, knowing he just had to be laughing at some girl he was with. Oh what a guy. He's already with another girl. I was irate. The alcohol in my veins began to boil.

"What? Who is this?" he asked, distracted.

"Fuckin, it's Letty." How could he ask who I was? How soon he was able to forget.

"Letty, hey. Where'd you go?" he said, his words slurring over the receiver.

"I left you asshole," I retorted, taking another sip, allowing the alcohol to penetrate every word.

"You should be here. We went, we went out," he said, stumbling over words in a drunken stupor.

"Who's there?" I said, the alcohol causing me to lack the ability to attend to anything.

"Um. Ugh, I don't know. People. People I don't but they're pretty cool."

"There's girl there, aren't there?" I asked, knowingly. I sat down on the floor and took a big swig of my drink- the last thing I needed.

I heard Dom popping open a beer bottle in the background.

"I mean, yeah, there's some girls. But you were invited."

"I wasn't fucking invited Dom, what are you talking about? Why do you have girls there? The second I leave you invite other girls over? See, that's why I left. You always have girls over." Nothing I said was really making much sense at this point.

"God, I don't always have girls over. You were supposed to be here. It's not like I- I'm hiding shit from you or shit. You decided to leave. And we went out and did stuff. And then people came over here. I can't control who people come over here," Dom started arguing, fairly incoherently.

"You just don't care. You don't care enough. You never did. I always care more and I just want you to care. But you don't."

"What do you mean? You know I care. I cared today and I cared for so many years. How can you say that I don't care more? I can only care as much as I can care." It was hard for me to follow what he was saying.

"You just don't ever listen to me. You just don't act like you want to be in this. Like you don't do relationships. And you said you don't. But I thought we had one. And you just don't do the relationship," I continued to rant.

"What do you mean? I do it all the time. I live with you! What the fuck do you want from me?" he asked, getting angrier.

"What do I want from you? I don't fucking want anything from you. I just want you to care about me because I care more and it's not fair. How can you ask me that?" I yelled into the phone.

"I just can't make you happy. God. You always act like such a bitch to me," he shouted back.

"I am not a bitch. You are a bitch. You just flirt with every girl. Just right there. And I can see it. You know I can see it. And you don't care. Like I said!"

"I do not. They flirt with me. You can't get mad at me that they flirt with me. I can't help that. They just like to flirt with me." The cocky sentences that escaped his lips just served to make me madder.

"Well tell them to stop. I get tired of your shit. And now we been through a whole lot and everything is the same and you're an ass!"

"I'm an ass? How am I an ass? I try to make you happy a lot of times."

"You never try, Dominic."

"I totally do," he retorted.

"Fuck no you don't. I wouldn't a left if you tried. But you just do what you want to do," I argued.

"You just want me to do everything you say and not be who I am. I am a stallion, babe, you can't cage this tiger."

"I'm not trying to fucking cage you. Fuck you. You know that. You just got to figure out what you want," I said, yelling so hard my throat was starting to hurt. I just finished my drink to help soothe the pain. I tried standing up but found that to be far too difficult. So I stayed seated on the floor.

"I want you to stop getting mad at me!" he yelled in response.

"Oh yeah, that's all you want?"

"Yeah!" he stated  
"Fine, then I'm through with this shit!" I told him, absolutely.

"What the fuck?" he asked, confused in his drunken haze.

"Yeah, through!" I said again.

"Fine, then. I'm through too. Fuck it!"

"Fuck you!" I told him. I was enraged.

"Fuck you too," he said. I could tell that he threw the phone down. It didn't turn off. In the background I heard a bottle slamming against something and breaking. Guess that was how he was handling it. I decided to slam the phone off. Fuck him. I couldn't believe that. I was drunk. I was mad. I was single now. And all I wanted to do was pass out.

**- End of flashback -**

"Fuck. Yeah, I do kind of remember that happening."

"You guys were both way too drunk to be having that conversation. Y'all need to just call a truce and start over. Pretend last night didn't happen. Just tell him that you were too drunk and didn't mean anything."

"Wait, why me? Why do I need to say that? Why can't Dom? He said some pretty fucking crazy shit, too."

"You know how stubborn he is."

"Fuck that."

"Come on, Letty. You don't want one drunk conversation to be the end of it all, do you?"

"Leon, you know, it really isn't just one drunk conversation. Maybe this has all been building for a while. I mean, I left down there because I just couldn't take it. Maybe me and Dom just need some space for a little while."

"I can't believe this crap!"

"What?"

"Why has everything that could possibly have happened, happened?"

"I wish I knew, Le. You know my life has been turned upside down too."

"I know."

"Listen I need to go throw up, or eat, or go back to sleep, or something. Can we talk about this later?"

"Sure."

"Bye"

TBC

AJ


	22. Chapter 22

I hung up the phone. I was in a complete daze. What the hell had I done?

"What happened?" a very concerned Mia asked, trying to work past her hangover to comfort me.

I just stood there. Looking at the floor. Dom and I had broken up. Just like that. It was over. He was in Mexico. And here I was. In his house, with his sister. What was I supposed to do now?

I felt tears coming on. I willed them to. I think crying would have helped release some of the stress. But I think my body was too dehydrated to produce them. Or maybe I had just cried too many tears for Dominic Toretto. Maybe you only get a certain number of tears per guy. Lord knows if that was the case, I had certainly used mine up.

"Letty talk to me. Come on," Mia urged further.

I just shook my head. There were no words. What was I supposed to say? Mia was my best friend. She knew how her brother could be. And if I told her, I knew what she would say. It would be the same thing she said every time Dom and I got in a fight. That Dom was a jerk and that he would recognize that he was wrong and apologize.

But it didn't feel like every other time. There was something different about this fight. Something finite. I didn't see him trying to get in touch with me. From the way Leon sounded, he had already tried to convince Dom to call me and he refused. There was something about the words that were said. As if all the frustration that Dom and I had towards each other, towards life, had come out drunkenly in that call last night. Something in the way he slammed the phone. He wasn't going to call anytime soon. And I wasn't sure that I wanted him to.

"I think it's really over this time," I finally stated, still not making eye contact with Mia. "Between me and Dom I mean."

"What?" a shocked Mia asked. "What happened?"

"We got in a big fight last night on the phone. We broke up. And from what Leon said, he doesn't seem to want to make up anytime soon."

"Aw, I doubt that," Mia assured me.

"I'm tired of putting up with his bullshit. I can't take it anymore. He does more to make me mad than he does to make me happy. He doesn't want to be in a relationship. And I don't think I want to be in a relationship with him."

"You just feel that way now, because it just happened."

"I don't know, Mi. There was something different about this fight. You know me and Dom, we fight all the time. We fight, we makeup. I don't see it happening quite like that this time."

"You guys were drunk. Seriously, you never make good decisions when you've had that much to drink. I bet this all blows over. You guys are going to come to your senses."

I just shrugged. I wanted to give Mia hope, I guess. But I felt more alone than I ever had in my life at this moment.

"Just think on it, or sleep on it, or something. Things always look better after a little time has passed. Promise me you'll do that before you make any real decisions."

"Alright."

That day I was a complete waste of space. I literally did nothing. I went back to bed. I did not exactly sleep, though. I just laid there, in some sort of bewildered state. The natural light was trapped outside by the curtains. Darkness overtook me. I don't know when the day ended and the night came. But honestly, I didn't care. I willed days to pass. That was my only hope of something changing. I left Mexico. I broke up with Dom. And I physically just felt like shit. Mia said that police came by looking for us. It's easy to hide when you are comatose.

It did not take long before I had fallen back into my depressive pattern. I got up only when I had to. When I had to pee. Or throw up. Or get water. Otherwise I laid in bed. It was all I had the energy to do. The outside world seemed too harsh. I'd had about enough outside to last me several years.

After what I guessed was about three, four, maybe five days, I resurfaced. I didn't want Mia coming back in to do an intervention on her depressed friend. I wasn't ready to face the world yet. But maybe I could at least get out of bed, take a shower, eat some food. I couldn't really remember the last time I ate anything.

I walked down the stairs and heard Mia talking on the phone.

"How's he doing, Vince?" I heard Mia say. I stayed hidden behind the wall. I wanted to hear the conversation. I knew who she was talking about. Dom. He was the only thing I had thought about. I hadn't gone this long without talking to Dom since he was in Lompoc.

"Are you kidding?" she asked, surprised. Oh how I wished I could hear both sides of this conversation.

"God, what an ass. How could he be doing that so soon?" I heard her ask.

What was he doing?

"Is it like one particular girl? Or a bunch of randoms?" she asked, providing me with more information.

With that, my heart sank. Guess the better question was, who was he doing? Dom was sleeping with other girls. I should have known. That is pretty much why we broke up in the first place, because he just couldn't be fully committed. And now that he was "single", he sure didn't waste anytime. And here I was, dying without him.

"Well, I don't know. I can't say I'm all together shocked. But I just think they are both making a huge mistake."

Why did Mia think I was making a mistake? I think after hearing that it only took, oh no time at all for Dom to start hooking up with other people, really solidified my decision. He didn't want to be tied down. And now, he could just go buckwild with all those sluts. That was his choice. Mine was to not let him hurt me anymore.

"She's not doing very good, either. She just stays in their room all day everyday."

Now I knew Mia was talking about me. And, shit. I hated that way it looked. Dom could move on. But I was helpless without him. Granted, I suppose this was true. But I'd be damned if I was going to let the world view me this way. Two could play this game. If Dom wanted to move on, I could too.

I decided, right then and there, while crouched in a corner ease dropping on a phone conversation, I was about to change. It was time for a whole new Letty.

TBC

AJ


	23. Chapter 23

I made my way down the rest of the stairs. I wanted to be somewhat loud in order to alert Mia of my presence. I didn't want her to know that I had been listening.

"Hey, Mi," I said, entering the den.

"Look who's back from the dead," Mia responded.

"Funny," I said earnestly, sitting down next to her on the couch and turning on the television. I flipped absentmindedly.

"Vince is on the phone. Wanna talk to him?" she asked, handing me the receiver. I accepted it, determined to show everyone that I was independent and happy.

"What's up, bro?" I asked, trying to sound as close to casual as I could muster.

"Um…nothing. What's up with you, girl?" he asked. I could tell he wasn't expecting me to sound quite so chipper.

"Just slept off a bad dream. How you livin' down there? Still entertaining the sorority?" I asked, trying to focus the conversation on anything but my personal state of being.

He chuckled. "Nah. Guess they went back to wherever they came from. You ain't still mad about that, are you?"

"I's never mad about that, man."

"Bullshit. Ain't that why you left?"

"No. It was more than that," I admitted. An uncomfortable silence fell over our conversation. I wanted to ask about Dom. But I wasn't going to.

"How you feelin'?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Eh, I'm alright. Starving, but alright," I said. I lied. My body still hadn't felt right since the crash. But I wasn't going to let that get in the way of convincing the world, and myself, that I was in fact alright.

"I hear that. I could totally go for some of Mia's cooking right about now. I don't think I can live on chips and sandwiches much longer."

"I see you're letting Leon do the cooking," I laughed.

"Hey, I can open a bag of chips just as good as he can," Vince retorted.

"Oh yeah, you got mad skill," I responded.

"Are we out of beer?" I heard someone yell in the background through the phone. Well, it wasn't someone. It was Dom. His voice bellowed. It was so recognizable.

"Yeah, you drank it all," Vince yelled back to him.

"Who you talkin' to?" I heard Dom ask.

"Letty. You wanna talk to her?" Vince asked him. Awkward. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't ready to talk to him right now. Shit.

"Hey, yo Vince," I said, interrupting and hopefully avoiding an inevitably horrible situation. "I got to run. Me and Mia got some shit to do tonight. But I'll talk to you soon. Tell everyone I said 'what's up'," I told him.

"Yeah, okay girl," he responded. I think Vince knew what I was trying to do- or not do.

"Bye," I said, hanging up the phone quickly before anything else could happen.

I set down the receiver and stared at the random infomercial on television. Why was my life so complicated?

"So I went to see Jesse today," Mia told me.

"Oh, man, I wish you'd have woken me up. I wanted to go, too."

"Sorry," she said half-heartedly.

"It's cool. How is he?" I asked, looking at her face. Mia had gotten good at lying, but her face always gave her away.

"Actually he's doing a whole lot better. The doctor's moved him out of the ICU and to a regular room. He's off half the machines he was on last time we saw him. He asked about you, and the team."

I could tell that she was being honest. That made me feel so much better. "What did you tell him?" I asked. I didn't want Jesse to worry about all the drama going on between Dom and me.

"I told him that you were still here and the guys were still down there. But I didn't mention anything about you and Dom."

"Good," I said, relieved. "Let's go see him tomorrow or something."

"Okay, sounds good," Mia agreed. "So what are these plans we supposedly have?"

"Go to the store and get some of the disgusting wine you love so much. We are gonna have some fun tonight," I told her. I was ready to come back from 'the dead', as she had so gracefully put it.

"Fun?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and looking at me skeptically.

"Yeah, fun," I stated.

"O….kay," Mia said, hesitantly.

"I'm serious."

"What's gotten into you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to pretend like I hadn't just been sleeping for the past hundred hours.

"What I mean is that you've been asleep for like the entire week. And now, all of a sudden you want to drink and have fun?"

"Yeah," I stated absolutely. "What? You wanting me to go back to bed?"

"No, I like this new development. Conscious Letty is my favorite kind."

"Okay then," I told her. I was serious. This was exactly what I needed. I needed to get loose and get out. I needed to see new people and experience new things.

"Okay," she said. She grabbed her purse and was out the door.

While she was gone I just laid on the couch. I wasn't watching the television. It served as only background noise. Where was I supposed to get the energy to go out? My stomach still felt like it was in knots. I felt kind of nauseated, even though I hadn't drank in days. But I was tough. I could push past all this. Eventually, my heart would catch up with my body. I would be over him, moving on, and it would all just be a memory.

She was back within about fifteen minutes. She had bought an array of things, including food. I was hungry. God, was I hungry. She had about three or four bottles of that terrible wine she thought was so fabulous.

"You want to help me cook?" she asked. I couldn't tell if she was serious or not.

"I'll put something in the microwave for you, if that's what you mean," I told her. I didn't really cook. At all. Not even a little bit. But I could microwave like a champ.

"The microwave totally died," she informed me.

"Oh, well then, no," I said and averted my attention to the television. I scanned the channels, not really settling on anything.

She just laughed and headed into the kitchen to do her thing. Within about fifteen minutes the house had a smell that was extremely tempting. I hadn't eaten in forever and I was beginning to realize that hunger may in fact be what was wrong with my stomach. Stomachs tend to like food from time to time. I did not know what she was cooking. But I did not care. It was something Italian, I knew that much from the smell of tomato sauce and oregano.

I stretched out on the couch, just relaxing. Mia's meals weren't exactly minute rice so I knew this could take a little while. I rested my head on the pillow and tried to get involved in television. It wasn't working.

And before I knew what was happening, there he was. Standing in front of me. I stood up off the couch, anger pumping through my veins. How did he get here? I wanted to sock him in the mouth. But before I could pull back my fist, he had me in a tight embrace. Our lips were locked, and I didn't know the combination to break free. He ripped off my top without a second thought. We were on the couch. His mouth was hot on my neck, nibbling at my earlobe, turning me on like never before. I felt his hands between my legs. I was growing hotter by the second. I felt his excitement growing as he tore off his own shirt and threw it on the ground. His chest was smooth. I felt his abs, hard and toned against my hands. Beads of sweat were starting to form on him as the intensity of our interaction grew.

"Letty, wake up," Mia said, startling me.

It was a dream. A fucking dream. Really? Oh holy hell. How was I still dreaming about him? I wanted to dream about beating him up, or at least punching him several times. But instead I dreamed of him turning me on. I was sure that my face was still flushed.

"How could you possibly fall back to sleep? Geez, what are you, in hibernation or something?" she asked, holding two plates of piping hot food.

I sat up, still a little taken back. I checked, yes my shirt was still on. And Dom was still gone.

"Thanks," I said, accepting the food.

"Let me go get the wine," she said, returning to the kitchen.

That was weird. I hadn't dreamed about Dom in a long time. What did that mean? I had no idea.

She brought in two glasses of some dark purple liquid, also known as "delicious wine" in Mia's vocabulary.

I ate as if I hadn't eaten in days, which was in fact true. The rigatoni was delicious. I could not have asked for a better meal. It even made the gross wine taste good. I forfeited the remote to Mia, who proceeded to turn the television to something stupid. But we both just sipped our wine and laughed at the idiotic reality shows.

"God, who would eat twelve cockroaches for money?" I asked, reaching for the bottle to top off my glass.

"Um, probably the same kind of people that would hop on semi trucks for money," Mia joked. And in our tipsy wine state, it was funny. We both shared a laugh. The first time I had genuinely laughed about our situation.

"We have had smarter ideas, I guess," I agreed.

"Ugh, you think?" she asked, redundantly.

"Well gee Mia, tell me how you really feel about it," I joked.

"I feel like listening to some music," she said, jumping up off the couch and switching the television to stereo.

"Okay but if you put on any of that fucking boy band shit, I'm gonna go hang out with somebody else," I warned her.

"You'd think with all that sleep you'd be in a better mood," she retorted smiling.

"I'm in a great mood."

"Sure," she said, flipping through the stations before settling on something we could both agree on.

"You need some more?" I asked, but not waiting for her to answer before refilling her glass.

"I guess," she said, after her glass was full. "So, now that we're here and some time's passed, you got to tell me. Why did you leave Dom?"

I sighed loudly. I was sort of hopping this would never come up. Of course that was an impossible dream.

"I just…" I started, but stopped. I didn't even know what to say about it. Why had I left? That was such a hard question. But, so easy at the same time. "I guess I was just so tired of not being appreciated."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, even in Mexico he still wanted to just have a whole bunch of other girls around. I just felt like he wants me around, until there is a bunch of other options. Then, he could take me or leave me. So I left him first."

"Do you really think he feels that way?"

"Well, he hasn't made much of an effort to try to fix us."

Mia shrugged. She knew I was right.

"And after going through all this shit I realized how much I really do care about him. How much I rely on him. And I don't want to be the only one in the relationship feeling that way, putting forth the effort. Relationships are supposed to be two people. And I felt like I've been carrying this one for a long time. I wanted to see how he would react if it was up to him to make things right. And, I guess I've seen it."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I heard what you and Vince were talking about. How Dom's been with a whole bunch of girls since I've been gone. He doesn't care. So long as he's got a piece of ass available, it doesn't matter who it is. I'm just tired of convincing myself that I mean more to him than that."

"Whoa, whoa, what are you talking about? What Vince said me?"

"About how Dom's been getting with other girls since I left Mexico," I admitted.

"He didn't say that. He said that a bunch of girls have been trying to get with him. And that Dom's been drinking himself stupid everyday. But he didn't say anything about Dom actually getting with any of them. I don't think he is."

"Mia, come on. If they are flirting with him, and I'm not there, you know he's getting with them."

"I don't know that. Maybe high school Dom might have done that. But that was ages ago. Vince definitely didn't tell me that. And I don't think that's what is happening. He's just been concerned with how much Dom's been drinking since you left."

"Well…." I started, but then realized I didn't really have any words.

"You're Dom's world. You don't know that?" Mia asked me seriously.

"No. I don't. Because I left and he doesn't seem to care."

"Why do you think he's been drinking so much?" she asked me.

"Why do you think he has called so little?" I asked her in return.

"I think we've all just been through a god damn earthquake in our lives and we are all trying to figure out what is most important, what really matters."

"Well how much time does he need before he realizes that I matter to him?" I asked, chugging the rest of my glass of wine.

"Not to play devil's advocate, but you were the one who left. You haven't exactly reached out to him either," she said.

I hated when she had good points like this.

"Hey, who's side are you on?" I said, not really offended. I knew Dom was Mia's brother. And this was a tough spot she was in right now.

"Yours of course, always yours. Sometimes you just have to take a step back before you can move forward. And, I just thought I'd through that idea out there."

"Well, I caught it. Now can we talk about something else?"

"Sure. Like how you need more wine?" she asked, filling up my glass again.

"Let's go out!" I told her.

"Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere we aren't going to run into any of the race crowd."

"Hm. That's going to be kind of hard."

"I know. You up to the challenge?" I contested.

"I don't know. It's getting kind of late," Mia said, looking at the clock. It was eleven o'clock.

"Hey, if I gotta raise some hell all by myself, I will. But come on girl, that ain't right," I coerced her.

"No, I'll come out with you," she agreed. "But I got to get ready first."

"Of course you do," I rolled my eyes. I settled up against the couch, ready to wait the extended period of time it would take Mia to get ready.

"Are you not going to change?" she asked me, as if suggesting that I should.

I just glared at her. She should be happy I was out of bed. Change? No. I didn't feel like changing. I was good to go.

"Okay then," she said, and trailed off towards the stairs.

I watched television, and watched the clock. I was going to give her fifteen minutes. We were going to go somewhere no one knew us. What did it care what either of us looked like? I was not out to find a guy. Of course, if I did happen across a hot guy, it may show Dom that he had some competition. That was definitely something to think about.

When the fifteen minute mark passed, I decided it was time that we leave.

"Mia come on, are you ready yet?" I called up the stairs, gathering my keys and wallet.

"Almost," she called back down.

"Mia, I love you. But I will leave you," I yelled back up the stairs to her.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," she said, barreling down towards me. It was probably the fastest I had ever seen Mia get ready. I was impressed.

We both got into my car. I felt like driving. I opened the windows and flipped on the stereo. The Los Angeles air felt amazing tonight. And I felt free, for the first time in ages. I still felt alone, but maybe that was part of being free.

We made our way into West Hollywood, an area we practically never visited before. But that was exactly what I needed. Somewhere I never went. People I never saw. This was perfect. There were more Jaguars than Nissans on the street. But I didn't care. I did not really know where I was going, but I let the wind guide me. I pulled up to a bar called Octopus' Garden. It had a cool name. I figured we could take a shot.

"What is this place?" Mia asked wearily.

"I don't know. But I bet we definitely don't know anyone here!" I said, as we walked to the door.

We showed the doorman our Ids and made our way into the club. Music was playing and the bar was pretty crowded.

"It looks like someone swallowed the sixties and threw it up in here," Mia remarked.

"Yeah, and it smells like it too," I agreed. "I think we found a place we can be anonymous."

"I don't know if this is really our scene," Mia said as we circled the bar looking for an open spot.

"God, I can't take you anywhere. It's cool. Just chill."

We found an open slot. The bar really was not as bad as it had looked when we first walked in. It actually had a nice ambiance and some interesting live music playing on stage. Looking around I confirmed the fact that we indeed knew no one here. I was growing happier by the second. It was a nice change from the somber state I found myself in the past couple of weeks.

"Bartender, can I get a Redbull and vodka?" I yelled out to the guy hurriedly fixing drinks for thirsty patrons.

"Right up, and for you miss?" he asked Mia.

"Um, just a water I think," Mia said timidly.

"You ain't drinkin'? That's no fun. Come on, Mi. I thought you were going to help enable my liquor recovery."

"Yes, but in a much less obvious sounding way," she said. "Okay, bartender I guess I'll have a screwdriver."

"Coming right up," he responded before turning around to grab the house vodka.

"Man, I'm so glad we're out."

"Good," Mia said suspiciously.

"Nah, I mean I just feel better than I've felt in a while. Two single girls in Hollywood. No telling what kind of trouble we can get into tonight!"

"You still looking for trouble? Because I think we've pretty much got more than we can handle right now," she reminded.

I just shrugged. Maybe she was right. With the blatant 60's decor, the bar was almost like a time warp, though most of the people at the bar were around our age. It was nice to be in a different time. I noticed a couple of extremely attractive guys enter the bar. They initially looked just as clueless as we had when we first entered this new establishment. I saw possibilities in them.

"Hey check out Simon and Garfunkel at three o'clock," I said to Mia, still looking at the guys.

"Huh?" she asked, confused, as she accepted her drink from the bartender.

"Those guys, over there," I pointed.

"Do you know them?" she asked me before telling the bartender to keep our tab open.

"Not yet," I smiled.

TBC

AJ


	24. Chapter 24

"Come with me," I said, picking up my drink.

"What are you gonna do?" Mia asked nervously.

"Jump off the empire state building. Come on, girl, what do you think I'm gonna do?" I asked sarcastically.

I decided not to walk straight up to them. They were cute, yes. But I was totally out of practice with how to 'pick up' a guy. I didn't even really know how to start. So I decided to consult an expert. Whether she meant to or not, Mia picked up guys everywhere she went. She clearly had the skill that I lacked.

"So, uh," I started, nervously. I never liked to admit that I didn't know how to do something. "How exactly do you pick up a guy?"

"You're trying to pick up a guy?" Mia asked, surprised.

"Not like 'pick up', but, Jesus, I don't know. You know, how do you get them to come over and try to pick you up?" I hated this conversation. But my interest was fairly sparked now. I was all about acquiring new proficiencies.

"Well don't you move on quick?" Mia joked in reference to my fairly recent break up.

"God, nevermind." I rolled my eyes, heading back over to the bar.

"No, no, no," she smiled and pulled me back. "I'm just giving you a hard time. How do you get a guy to come pick you up? Um, just make eye contact with them. Look available, attractive."

"Eye contact," I thought. I looked at Mia, practicing my eye contact.

"Not like a death glare," she corrected. "You look like you're trying to curse me."

I attempted to soften my face.

"Yeah, that's better. Maybe you could smile, too," she suggested.

"Not my style," I told her.

"Neither is picking up guys at a bar but here we are."

"I'm just trying…to move on."

"I know," she softly stated with understanding. "And regardless of how stupid I think you're being about the whole thing, I'm your friend. And I'm gonna support you."

I rolled my eyes again. That was so much more natural to me than googly eyes, or whatever the hell Mia was trying to get me to do with my face that just felt so abnormal.

"Here, let's just stand over here. And then glance over at them. Try to make eye contact. But don't look mean," she warned. "Or pissed off."

"Well that's hard when you keep saying shit that's pissing me off."

"Just pretend like you're looking at kittens or something sweet and cute," she suggested.

"Why would I be looking at kittens?"

"Fine. Pretend like you are looking at a really nice engine or carburetor, or something."

"Now you're speaking my language," I smiled.

I stood there. With Mia. I tried glancing over at them. I pictured both of them as various car parts. I think it did seem to work to ease my facial tension. But, they were talking to each other, definitely not looking over in our direction. I didn't want to stare, although it is what I would have done to a bright, shiny new exhaust system. And then it happened. They looked over. I locked eyes with them.

They looked back at each other before heading over towards us.

"I think they're coming over here," I informed Mia quietly.

She looked over at the approaching guys, and smiled at me. "I'm such a great teacher!"

They walked up to the bar, about three feet from us until the people parted and a direct path was open.

"Hey," I said as the guys edged closer.

"Hey," one of the guys said, smiling.

"I'm Letty, this is Mia," I said, motioning in her direction.

"Tyler," the one standing closest to Mia said first.

"Gavin," the guy I had been eying stated.

"You from around here?" I asked Gavin.

He shook his head, "No. I just moved here from Santa Fe. How about you?"

I nodded in response. "Yeah, well I'm from LA."

"That's cool. Born and raised?"

"Pretty much." I stood there. I didn't really know what to say. So to continue with the inane small talk I just said, "so what brought you to Hollywood? Wait, don't tell me…you want to be an actor, right?"

He laughed and smiled. He had a really cute smile. A nice tan. His dark hair cascaded across his brow line. And his green eyes were so light they were practically neon.

"Actually, yes," he admitted shyly. I could see a slight blush flush across his cheeks.

Really? An actor. That was definitely strike one.

"Wow, man, that's so….I don't know." I was trying to think of something that was not extremely rude.

"Lame?" he asked.

"Probably wasn't the word I'd have picked, but okay. Yeah."

He shrugged. "Yeah. I know. So what do you do?"

Oh the myriad of answers to this question that ran through my head. I am currently unemployed due to the fact that I can't return to my job at my exboyfriend's garage because we were hijacking semi trucks, got caught, and now are on the run from the police. That didn't really seem fitting, or like the best opener. So I settled with, "I'm kinda between things right now."

"That's cool," he replied nonchalantly.

Oh yeah, it was totally rad.

"So what do you do? I mean when you aren't obviously being a famous actor?"

He laughed. "Yeah, haven't gotten any acting jobs yet. Right now I work part-time at Applebee's, nights at the movie theatre, and I'm a professional dog walker."

"You can be a _professional_ dog walker?"

"I use the word professional loosely. I'm really good at it though."

"I'm sure."

"So, tell me about you," he pried.

About me. I wonder what part he wanted to know. About how my mom had a drug problem? Or how my siblings and I all had different fathers, none of which stuck around to do anything but drink and take out their anger on us. Did he want to know about how I started working at seven delivering newspapers to help put food on the table? How many places we left in the middle of the night to avoid rent and/or eviction? Or how I had never lived anywhere for over one month before we moved to Echo Park? Or why my world completely transformed the day I met the Toretto family? Did he want to know how many times I ran away from home? And why? Or who was there to catch me every time I fell? Did he want to know how many people I knew that were in jail, or had been in jail? How I did not even know where most of my blood relatives were anymore? Or how I barely graduated high school because I knew it was pointless? I could tell him about illegally street racing? Or all the fights I used to get into because of where I came from? Was he really ready to learn about me? I stayed silent, looking at my drink like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Okay, let's start with something easy. Tell me something that no one knows about you," he said, obviously taking my silence as a hint.

Easy? Ha! He had no idea. I looked around at the other people at the bar. The girls, carelessly chatting it up with other guys. In that moment I recognized how different I really was from those girls, and for so many reasons. How I would never really be able to identify with them. Those girls, that got so worked up if they were late for work, or had a flat tire. How great it must be to have your biggest worry in the world be something so trivial. My life was different. I was different. And that was a fact.

I realized how different I was from this guy, too. How we would never be able to see eye-to-eye. Life had dealt us different hands. In fact, I didn't even think we were playing the same game.

In that moment, I missed Dom. He understood me. He knew all those things about my past, and he loved me. We shared those same immense burdens. Life had been unfair to us both. But we had been able to find peace with each other. I shouldn't be here.

"I don't like this drink," was the answer I decided to give him.

"Well that's an easy fix," he said, taking the glass and pushing it towards the bartender. "Can I get a…what do you want instead?"

"Corona," I replied. A taste of the familiar would probably do me good right about now.

"Nice," he responded. "One corona, and two Jager shots."

"You take them two at a time?" I joked.

"I's kinda hoping you'd do one with me."

The bartender pushed the drinks towards us quickly before moving on to the next customer.

"Here's to…" he started.

I couldn't wait to hear what he was about to say.

"…love, peace, and avoiding the police."

I looked at him awkwardly, though I was all about the last part.

"You know, because this place obviously has a sixties theme."

"Oh, okay. Sure. Love, peace, and avoiding the police," I restated before our glasses met in the all too familiar ritual. The shot entered my throat. The harsh liquorish liquid bombarded my taste buds. I hated Jager. I resisted the urge to gag by chasing it with my Corona.

"Hey, you're doing shots without us?" his friend, Tyler, asked.

He and Mia had obviously been chatting it up. She shot me a grin.

"Bartender," Tyler called out. The busy man approached us. "Let's get four shots of."

I cut him off. "I'm not doing another Jager shot."

"Well then, ladies choice," he said.

"Let's go for some Jose or Patron or something," I suggested.

"Four Patron shots, please," Tyler told the bartender.

"A tequila girl," Gavin smiled.

I didn't really know how to respond to that. But luckily I did not really have the chance. The bartender slammed down four shots, four limes, and two saltshakers. We licked our hands, passed around the saltshakers, and lifted our glasses. The second shot went down much smoother than the first.

"You wanna go smoke a cigarette?" Tyler asked Gavin.

"Yeah," he replied. "You smoke?" he asked me.

I shook my head, "but you guys have fun."

He was a smoker. Strike two. They exited to go get cancer, leaving Mia and I to talk about them.

"So you like that guy?" Mia asked.

"He's okay, I guess. In the three seconds we've talked he hasn't pissed me off. You like your guy?"

"He's nice. I think they're both really cute!"

"You trying to add a fourth to that love triangle you already got?"

"No way!" she replied. "But, the attention's not bad."

I had to agree with her. It was a new experience for me. Meeting someone out of nowhere, not part of Dom's crew, or the race scene. Having him try to get to know me. Buy us drinks. I couldn't say that I hated it.

I nodded in agreement.

Just then, another guy came up. Another, not so attractive guy. He walked right up beside me and put down his can of Natural Light. I couldn't help but scowl at this loser.

"Hi," he said to me with a toothy grin.

I nodded.

"So what are you doing tonight?" he asked me.

"Oh you know, hanging out, having a few kicks," I said, trying to sound bored and angry. I was good at that.

"Right. What's life without a few kicks?"

"Death," I said sternly, glaring at him. Who did this bozo think he was talking to?

After my response, he slowly backed away from the bar, and from me. Thank God! Mia was cracking up. I shifted my scowl over to her. But I couldn't hold it. I joined in with her laughter. I was just glad that guy had gone to bother someone else.

"Look at that giant bottle of wine," Mia said pointing to a magnum that was incased over by the bar.

"You think it's just there for decoration or there is actually booze inside of it?" I asked her.

"Looks like there's wine in there. Why would they just keep it locked up?"

"Beats me," I responded. But it gave me an idea. I was up for a little challenge. I noticed the people, all pretty drunk, and the bartender, very occupied with his customers. The bouncers were really no where to be seen. I wondered if I could get it out of that encasement.

"I'll be right back," I told her. I saw Tyler and Gavin approaching so I knew she wouldn't be standing at the bar alone.

"Where are you going?" she asked as I trailed off, failing to respond.

I walked up to the magnum. I looked around. No one was paying any attention. I took out my keychain. I hadn't picked a lock in ages. But it was probably like riding a bike. I straightened out one of the key rings.

Sure enough, it was exactly like riding a bike. As natural as breathing. I opened the case slowly, looking around. Still, no one was watching me. I quickly grabbed the bottle and held it down. I made my way back over to the group.

"Hey, Mi," I said, approaching them quickly before anyone knew what was going on. "I got you something." I motioned for her to look downward, where I was holding the bottle under the bar.

"How did you…" she was asking but couldn't complete her thought.

"I got it out," I said absolutely.

"How?"

"I got it out," I repeated. She didn't need to know the details. Mia was always happier not knowing some things.

"Damn, that's awesome!" Tyler smiled.

"Where did you get that?" Gavin asked, also smiling.

I just signaled over to the now empty case.

"That's bad ass!" he smiled. "Let's find a table or something and bust that bad boy open!"

We trailed off to look for an empty table to share my prize. It wasn't hard to find because a lot of the people were either monopolizing the area beside the bar or the dance floor. We picked a table that remained fairly surrounded by people, so no one working at the bar would be any the wiser.

"How are we gonna open it?" Mia asked. She always had to get dragged down by the details.

"We could just break the top," I suggested.

"Or," Gavin said, pulling out a Swiss Army knife. Wow, what a boy scout. He reached for the bottle. I handed it over to him with a little bit of hesitation. He pulled out the corkscrew and proceeded to open the bottle.

"Glasses?" Mia asked, again with the details.

"Yeah. I'll be right back," Tyler said, leaving the table.

"That's is so cool that you got this," Gavin said.

I just shrugged. He had no idea the magnitude of the things that we had done in the past. This was so minor in comparison. But I wasn't about to rehash all my glory days with him.

"Ta-da," Tyler said, reemerging with four water glasses, empty of course.

"Nice," Gavin said, filling up the glasses as Tyler placed them in front of him.

"To Letty," Mia said, raising her glass. Everyone complied, cheering, and we drank our free alcohol. It was a sweet victory yet subtle victory.

The magnum gave us each about two really full glasses. I was definitely feeling a little drunk by the time it was empty.

"I feel like we should keep this bottle. It marks some sort of scandal or something," Tyler slurred out.

I couldn't help but laugh. It marked something. Maybe a scandal, only time would tell. The night was young.

"Okay, so who wants another round of shots?" Gavin asked, standing up.

"I'll go for a shot," I told him. "So will Mia."

She just looked at me. I could tell she was definitely getting drunk. We were having fun. Wasn't that the goal of tonight? Mission accomplished. These guys, though worlds different from us, were cute. They were fun. It was nice to pretend to be normal for a change. It was nice to pretend like I was on top of the world, instead of feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders.

He brought back another round of tequila shots. We all took them with ease, especially after how much we had already had to drink. He snuck back into the booth beside me. And then he just looked at me. I had no idea what he was looking at. Was there something on my face? In my teeth?

Before I knew what was happening, he was leaning in. What was happening? Before the thought even registered in my somewhat inebriated brain, I felt his lips on mine. It was in that moment that I sobered up drastically. I realized, this was not Dom. This was not Dom's kiss. Pictures of Dom rushed into my brain. I saw him. I saw us. How we kissed. The passion that was in the kisses. The love. Kissing Gavin, well it was something different. But no, I wasn't going to let Dom do this. I wasn't going to let him be that important right now. I was determined. I was moving on. I was living my own life right now. But the kiss. I couldn't keep it going. It was just so….different, wrong, something. I couldn't put my finger on the right word. I pulled away.

I noticed Gavin, opening his eyes, somewhat shocked, saddened by my move.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He was a nice guy. I didn't want to be the one that made him look like that.

"We need more shots," I told him. Maybe alcohol could drown away the memories. Dom was sure trying to use that approach. I guess I could to.

Gavin and I made our way to the bar. We ordered another round. And then another. I wondered if it was possible to get drunk enough to erase the feelings that came from being kissed by another guy. A guy that wasn't Dom.

TBC

AJ


	25. Chapter 25

A/N

Thanks so much to all the amazing reviews I've had for this story! Anyone who's ever written knows (and those of you who have not can probably imagine) it is really what keeps an author going! Much appreciation my friends!

~Take it easy and happy reading~

"It's that one. The white one, on the left," I signaled to Gavin.

He was driving my car. Usually something I was very, very opposed to letting anyone do. But there was no way in hell I was going to leave it parked outside some random bar in West Hollywood. And I knew I was too drunk to drive. We pulled up in the driveway, the spot where Dom's car usually sat. Why was that my first thought? I tried to wipe that idea out of my brain.

After our fourth, maybe fifth shot, the bar decided it had to close. Tyler and Gavin hadn't wanted the night to end. Mia agreed. I tried to act casual. After the fun the four of us had, of course the night should keep going. That was what my head was saying.

"Nice place you have here," Tyler said, as he and Gavin followed Mia and I in the house.

"Thanks," Mia said, leading the way.

She opened the door and the three of us trailed in behind her. The house was clean. It still had the lingering scent of Mia's delicious dinner. The guys sat on the couch.

"Want a beer?" I asked the group as Mia made her way to the couch also. She sat beside Tyler. He placed his arm around her as she flipped on the television.

"Yeah," the three spoke in unison.

"Okay," I said. I went into the kitchen. As I reached for the refrigerator door I noticed it. But before I could make the connection with the handle my eyes were locked. For the second time tonight I saw it. Pictures. But these weren't in my mind. They were directly in front of my eyes. On the fridge, one foot away from my face, multiple photographs littered the otherwise white appliance. Pictures of the team. Pictures of Mr. Toretto from his stock car circuit days. Pictures of me and Dom. My eyes focused on one in particular. We looked so amazingly happy. It was at his birthday.

I couldn't take it. Without warning, tears began to well up in my eyes. And I was overcome with sadness. And anger. I was fucking mad!

And heartbroken.

I slid the picture from its magnet and turned it, face down, on the counter. I just could not look at this right now. At me, beaming. At him, gorgeous. At us, together.

I opened the fridge and grabbed four beers. I walked back into the den to find a rerun of Saturday Night Live on the television. I handed Mia and Tyler their beers before settling in the armchair beside the couch. I gave Gavin his beer and he looked at me funny.

"What?" I asked, wishing my voice hadn't come out so harsh.

"You don't wanna sit with me?"

"Not enough room," I said, signaling towards Mia and Tyler.

Gavin stood up and walked over to my chair. He sat on the arm of the chair, putting his arm around me. I felt uncomfortable. So, I took a long, long, long sip of my beer.

"I'm going to go change real quick. I'll be right back," I stood up quickly. I didn't even wait to gauge anyone's reaction. It was probably weird. But then, I was feeling weird right now.

I dashed up the steps, taking two at a time. I entered my bedroom and closed the door behind me. I just leaned against the door, trying to figure out exactly what I was doing.

I stood up, leveled myself, and just looked. Pictures, all over the room, of Dom and me. I couldn't do this with his eyes staring at me. In less than a second I was making my way to the bulletin board and each picture frame. I gathered up all the photos. All the pictures where Dom looked cute, and I looked happy. I stacked them up and stuffed them in a drawer. I closed the drawer with determination. He was not going to invade me like this. Maybe I couldn't erase him from my thoughts, but I could erase his face from consuming every corner of the room.

Somehow, looking around, it was a little bit easier. I could breathe better. Memories still hung heavily in the room. But that was to be expected. Hiding him away in a drawer was making the night somewhat more bearable. I made my way back over towards the door before I remembered that I had said I was going to change. Quickly, I slipped off the outfit I had worn out and pulled on a pair of old cotton shorts. I opened the dresser to get out a shirt. The first one I pulled out, I slipped over my head. Glancing at the mirror before exiting I realized it was one of Dom's old work shirts. It even had his name on it. I couldn't wear this.

Damn! Why was he everywhere? I couldn't escape him. Even if I wanted to. And I was almost sure that I wanted to.

I threw the shirt to the furthest corner and the room and scrounged through the drawer. It was nearly impossible to find a shirt that wasn't his, or that he hadn't given me. Finally, at the very bottom, was an old UCLA shirt. I had no idea where it came from. It was perfect. I pulled it on and made my way back downstairs. The steps were harder to take than they had been coming up. Something about this whole night just didn't feel right. And that irritating pain in the pit of my stomach that had been consuming me for a while now, had returned. I went to take the next step, but had to stop. I ran back upstairs, the nausea overtaking me. I knew this night had been emotionally difficult, but I had no idea until right now how great the physiological toll had been.

I barely was able to lift the lid up from the toilet before I vomited. There went all those drinks. I guess that was probably a good thing. I rested my elbows on the seat, and tied back my hair before it could reach the never-ending stream of liquid that was pouring out from my mouth. The taste was bitter and hot. Tequila coming up was not nearly as appealing as it was going down.

When I was certain that there wasn't anything left to come up, I flushed the toilet and stood up. I looked in the mirror. I almost didn't even recognize the person looking back at me. My face was flushed, and thinner than I had remembered. Dark circles traced the area underneath my eyes, despite the fact I had slept so much. I tried to ignore this, and washed out my mouth. Surely I could make it down the stairs now.

As I entered back into the den, Mia, Gavin, and Tyler were mid-conversation.

I just slipped back in. I sat in the chair, but tried to scoot to the side furthest from Gavin.

"So he had the garage. But my dad's true passion was racing cars. He was a guy of limited interests I guess," Mia said. Why were they talking about Mr. Toretto?

"Yeah I know what you mean," Tyler responded to her. "My dad was a truck driver. So, a little bit different. But hey, driving is driving, right?"

"Um…" I hesitated. I just looked him as if he had nine heads or something.

No! That was all I could think. Or maybe, Hell No! How could he compare being a truck driver to racing? That was a completely different vehicle, technique. I could not even begin to name the number ways of how these two things were exponentially different.

"In fact, it was crazy. But right after I moved here all I saw on the news was some story about how this group of thugs was seizing eighteen-wheelers. They were jumping on them and stealing the cargo after dumping the drivers. Did you hear about that?" Tyler continued.

Holy shit, he was talking about us.

"No," Mia and I said simultaneously. We looked at each other.

"Oh, well I don't know if they caught them or what. But I haven't heard anything about it lately."

"Oh," was all I could think to utter. "I don't know."

"I hope they did though. That's a pretty shitty thing to do."

"What makes you say that?" I tried to hide the condescension, but it was impossible.

"Well they could just go out and get real jobs like normal people do," he said, his voice getting somewhat heated as well.

"You ain't got no idea what you're talking about! They probably did have jobs. They probably had family and friends, mortgages and responsibilities like these _normal_ people you're referring to. But just because people work hard at their jobs doesn't mean that they can make ends meet. Doesn't mean they know how they can afford to get from one month to the next without something having to give!"

"Damn girl, you ain't gotta go psycho crazy," he said.

"What the hell did you just say to me?" I asked. I was about to punch this guy in his fucking face. I knew that this wasn't exactly the best to response to aid in our cover. The more pissed off I got, the more likely it was for them to wonder why a bystander would so adamantly defend these so called 'thugs'.

"I said chill, yo. Ain't gotta go bipolar on me!"

"Ha, those are funny last words," I said, standing up getting ready to show this insane dickwad exactly how 'psycho' I could be.

"Tyler, don't say that kind of crap about Letty. And, Letty, please let's not have any bloodshed. Can we maybe just talk about something else," Mia interrupted. I was glad she did. Inevitably I was just going to get really, really pissed off.

I grabbed my beer and emptied the contents. I got up, choosing not to address anyone, and went to get another one. Again, alone in the kitchen, I grabbed another beer and just leaned up against the counter. I didn't want to go back in there. I didn't want to go to bed. I wasn't tired. But at the same time I was exhausted. And I definitely didn't want to talk to Tyler. I didn't know what I wanted right now. About anything.

As I topped off the second Corona, I noticed Gavin entering into the kitchen.

"I was wondering where you'd snuck off to," he said, smiling and approaching me.

I tried to smile at him. I don't think it worked, though.

"Look, I'm sorry about Tyler. He's had a lot to drink. And he's being an asshole. He wants to apologize to you," Gavin said, extending his hand in an attempt to lead me back into the den.

I just shook my head. Going back in there was probably not the best idea for anybody.

"Please don't be mad. We were having so much fun," he approached me. I noticed another button on his shirt was unbuttoned. But I couldn't imagine how that would have happened. He had a really pronounced collarbone. Which I guess should not have been a surprise, Gavin was a slender guy. "But I must say, damn you look sexy when you're pissed off."

I sat down the empty bottle. I didn't know what to make of this statement. Dom had said this to me too. I looked up at him. His smile was pretty hot. I just bit my lower lip.

He walked up to me, facing me directly, his body only inches from my own. With his right hand, he cupped my jaw and lifted my eyes up to meet his. He smiled wider before leaning in.

Shit, here we go again.

It wasn't that he wasn't a good kisser. He was. I tried to focus on that.

"Do you wanna go upstairs," he asked, as his hand began to snake up my shirt.

It was sink or swim time. If I really wanted to move on from Dom, this was my chance.

TBC

AJ

Don't get mad guys. I've already written the next chapter, just doing a little editing. It will be up very soon.

R&R


	26. Chapter 26

I sat at the kitchen table. Refusing to think about last night's actions, I stared at my cup of coffee.

Footsteps alerted me to someone's presence. I looked up from my cup long enough to see Mia walking in. She was quiet, careful not to disturb Tyler, still passed out and snoring on the couch.

"Morning," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"How you livin'?" I questioned as she walked over to pour a cup of coffee for herself.

She just laughed.

"Hey yo, bro, come on. I got us a cab. Let's get out of here," Gavin said in the other room.

I heard Tyler make a loud groan.

Both boys entered. They look tired, hungover, less appealing than they had the night before.

"Hey, I'll call you," Tyler says, shooting Mia a smile. He walked out the door, leaving Gavin alone.

Extreme discomfort consumed every fiber of my being. I could tell that Gavin was looking at me. His eyes were piercing my soul. I refused to avert my gaze. I could tell that Mia was looking at me too. I closed my eyes, willing both to disappear.

"Alright…well," Gavin said awkwardly.

"Had fun. Enjoy the day," I said, laying my head down on the table, in front of my coffee. I lifted up my arm and waved goodbye to him.

I heard him walk over to the door.

"Well, bye," he said to Mia.

"Bye," Mia said back to him. I could tell that she wasn't sure whether she should laugh or cry. She had that flare in her voice.

And with that, Gavin exited my life the same way he had entered it, quickly. I didn't care about getting his phone number. I definitely didn't want to walk him to the door, to his cab, kiss him, pretend like last night actually meant something to me. Right now, all it meant was dehydration and a memory I wished I could erase.

After I heard the cab turn over and drive away, Mia came up to the table. She put her cup of coffee down near mine.

"Some night last night, huh?" Mia joked.

"Some night," I managed to scruff out.

"So just tell me, since when do you let some random guy feel you up at a bar," Mia questioned, trying to enter the subject gently.

"Since I started playing Power Hour with tequila shots, I guess," I said, my headache still beating hard in my temples.

"And then wanting to bring them back to the house. And letting them, have sex with you, or hook up, or whatever you decided to do with that guy," Mia said, using her hands in defense nervously.

I knew that Mia thought I had actually slept with this random. And I didn't fault her for thinking that. I would have thought the same thing. She wasn't an idiot. You don't drink a TON at a bar, make out with a guy in front of the world, bring them back to your house, have them spend the night, and let nothing happen…unless your are me.

"I didn't suggest that they come back to the house," I stated stubbornly.

"You didn't object to the idea either. So, are you like slutty Letty now?" Mia asked, continuing. Of course there was definite truth to the statement. I knew what it looked like. And before tonight, I hadn't let any guy even think they stood a chance. I had only hooked up with Dom for so long.

"Look who's talking. What about you and that Tyler douchebag?"

"Oh, no. Don't change the subject. You know he slept on the couch. We didn't even kiss at the bar. Now you on the other hand, making out with Gavin at the table, by the bar, in the kitchen. And I totally didn't expect you to take him upstairs with you last night!"

"It's weird to have guys hit on you," I blurted out.

"What? What are you talking about? That's crazy. Guys hitting on you? You were dating Dom. Y'all were totally a hot couple. You can't think that you aren't beautiful?"

"I mean, I don't know. I guess I know that I look good sometimes. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't describe myself as _beautiful_," I honestly stated. I never really thought of myself that way. Dominic used to tell me I was hot, maybe even use the word beautiful on occasion. But he was my boyfriend. That's what your boyfriend says. It wasn't even a self-esteem thing. I definitely believed I had some sort of sex appeal. But beautiful was never a word I would have used to describe myself. Awesome, definitely. A badass, hopefully. Maybe even hot. But beautiful was something different.

"Letty you are definitely beautiful. Guys hit on you all the time," she said. From the look in her eyes, I knew she believed this about me.

"Mia, let's be serious. No guy was ever going to come over. I'm pretty sure my complete lack of magnetism, and my massive, overprotective boyfriend, were what kind of shot that horse in the face," I replied.

"What?"

"I mean, guys never came up to me because no one wanted to deal with Dom. Even before we were a couple. When he would just be lurking around being a domineering ass back in the day, guys still kept their distance."

"And now?"

"And now…Dom's not here. I guess I'm just not used to having different guys, strange guys, whatever, hit on me. I probably got a little carried away though, huh?" I asked her. "But like I said, I was trying to move on."

I certainly didn't want anyone to think I was a slut. I guess it was like Mia had said, the attention was nice. And who wouldn't like it? I mean I had never gone to parties and met new guys and had them try to impress me. Buy me drinks. Want to spend the whole night chatting it up. It was new. I usually got fixed up for Dom. And naturally I loved it when he commented on my appearance. When he told me I was sexy. For the most part, I just figured it was because he wanted to get laid later. For the most part, it worked. But now things were a little different. It could be any guy. Though I was pretty sure they all expected to get laid too. And that was a whole different ball game.

"So what's this all about? What did happen with you and Gavin?" she inquired.

"Nothing."

She looked at me strangely. "Nothing?"

"Nothing," I repeated.

"What do you mean _nothing_?" she asked strongly.

"I mean we didn't hook up. We didn't have sex. **Nothing**!"

"I saw you guys make out. When you went back up to the bar to take shots after we finished that big bottle of wine, I saw you two. Y'all were totally going at it. His tongue was down your throat. His hand was under your shirt, and I'm pretty sure it was in your bra. I would have thought you guys were having sex then except for that fact that you had clothes on."

"Okay, yes," I hesitantly admitted. "That did happen."

"So how can you tell me that you guys did nothing after you went upstairs?"

"Even when I was kissing him at the bar. It just didn't feel right. Something was wrong about it. And…"I hesitated before sighing, "I couldn't get Dom out of my head."

Mia smiled.  
"Stop smiling," I told her seriously.

"I can't help it," she said, still smiling irritatingly.

"It was driving me insane. Literally, I think it even made me physically sick or something. But I was actually really just trying to fight it. Gavin, he seemed like a cool enough guy. So I tried like hell to just push the thoughts of Dom out of my mind. But it was no use. I just couldn't do it."

"What do you mean?" Mia asked, her humor changed to concern.

"I mean…when we got upstairs he definitely thought we were gonna hook up. And, I see why. I mean I'd kind of let him think that was a total possibility. So when I closed the door, he came up and tried to make out. I tried, too. But then I almost threw up in his mouth," I said, and stopped. I was embarrassed to say this out loud.

"Wait, what?" Mia said, a mixture of shock and surprise in her voice.

"I almost puked in his mouth, mid-kiss. Yeah. And you wonder why things were awkward when he left just now."

"Makes sense now," Mia replied.

"I was able to barely miss his mouth. I turned my head. He then started kissing my ear until he realized I was vomiting three inches from his foot. It took him by surprised, to say the least."

Mia started laughing.

"Stop laughing!" I attempted to command.

It was no use.

"I'm sorry," she laughed. "Keep going with your story."

"Anyway," I started, sternly. "He sort of backed up, shockingly. When I was done puking, he asked me why. And that was a little difficult to answer. I ended up just telling him that I'd had a lot of shit go down recently and that I couldn't hook up with him. He tried to convince me. But that was pointless. So he gave up and passed out."

"Where did you sleep?

"Down in the basement. In Jesse's room. But I didn't really sleep. I've just been up here trying not to think since about three or four."

"Well, it's no surprise that you're still thinking about Dom," Mia started.

I interrupted her. "Girl, I know what you're trying to do. And that's cool and all. But I can't talk about Dom right now."

She nodded in understanding.

"Some night last night," she finally said.

"Some night," I agreed.

Several hours later we decided it was time to visit Jesse. Mia had been really cool and just sort of left me alone. And I took advantage of that time to sleep, or attempt to sleep anyway. I mainly tossed and turned.

Even the drive to the hospital was pretty silent.

"Why don't you go ahead up. I'm going to try to find the doctor to get some updates," Mia said to me as we approached Jesse's room.

"Okay," I agreed.

I walked into Jesse's room. Mia had been right. He was only hooked up to one or two things at this point. He looked remarkably better from the previous time I saw him. He looked over in my direction and a smile grew on his face.

"Look who's here," he said, trying to prop his body up into a sitting position. I could tell it was somewhat painful by the expression that transformed the smile.

"What's up, brother," I moved in closer to him.

I hugged him, gently, then pulled up the chair closer to his bedside.

"You look a lot better," I remarked.

"You kinda look like shit. What's up?" he asked candidly.

I gasped. I was definitely surprised, and taken aback by his statement. Granted, Jesse could be blunt at times, mainly due to the impulsivity with his ADD. But, damn, to just call me out like that.

I was caught off guard by this statement and hesitated with my reaction. "Oh just your typical life as a fugitive." I hoped a little inappropriate humor would help lighten the direction of this conversation.

"Why are you still in LA? I'm glad to see you, but I don't think it's such a good idea that you're here, man."

I guess it didn't.

"I don't know. Lot's of things," I replied and looked down at the ground.

"Like," he prodded.

"Dom, Mia…you," I said, looking at back up at him as my voice revealed more than I wanted to burden him with.

"Aw, no, don't let me be part of your reason. Seriously, Let. I know, like I really do know, that you are concerned about me and shit. But you shouldn't be in LA right now," his voice lowered as he said the last part. "There's mass cops everywhere. They've already been by here. And they are trying to move fast. They came in here and started asking all kinds of questions. I'm telling you, questions like that are always bad to answer. Like that last time that I got questioned by the cops, remember, like two or three years ago. Juan and his boy Rico were pulling that smuggling scam. They pulled me over outside of Harry's that time.

With the appearance of Jesse's ADD taking over I had to interrupt his rabbit trail. "Whoa, Jess, let's back up a second."

"Oh right, sorry," he smiled shyly.

"I know what you're saying. No doubt. I just can't go back there right now."

"It's about Dom, right?"

"How do you know?" I asked suspiciously. Who had he been talking to?

"I'm not an idiot."

I nodded. Maybe it was obvious.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We broke up," I finally admitted to him.

His eyebrows shot up, and a look of surprised entered on his face. "What? Are you serious? Why? How long ago? What happened?"

"Which one do you want me to answer first?" I laughed. I guess while I was being honest, I may as well be really honest.

He thought for a second and settled on, "what happened to make you leave Mexico?"

Before the words could escape my lips, a nurse entered.

"Hello," she said to me cheerfully. I just scowled at her for interrupting.

"How are you doing?" she asked Jesse, ignoring my lack of response, and my presence.

"Fine," he told her. She walked over to him and took his blood pressure, temperature, and checked a couple IV bags.

"Want something else for the pain?" she asked him.

"Let's hold off," he said, looking at me.

"Okay. Well let me know if you need anything," she said before exiting the room. She closed the door behind her. That much, I appreciated.

I stood silently. Our eyes were still locked.

"Go ahead," he pushed.

I sighed deeply. "Okay," I said repositioning myself in the chair nervously. "I guess it really started right after Vince got out of the hospital. We went down to the beach one day. After we got back to the house that night the guys were having one of their parties, like the after-race shit we'd throw. Just like nothing had happened. And Dom with his shit, just standing around flirting with spring break tail. I just couldn't take it. Number one, to have a party just like shit ain't totally changed. And number two, because of all that just, to just stand around and flirt with other girls while I'm taking a shower. I lost my shit. I can't do that anymore. I'm not gonna do that shit anymore."

Jesse had been very quiet through my tirade. He nodded. Accepting everything I had just said. "I understand what you're saying."

And, since I had told him this much I just continued with, "and then it took him hours before he even realized I had left. He was mad I'd come back up, and I was too mad to really talk to him about it. Then one night several days ago we were both real drunk and just had it out. We broke up. And I ain't heard from him since."

"Damn." He paused. "That on top of all this other shit. Damn."

I just nodded. Life was a bitch.

"You can't possibly end what you and Dom got based on a drunk conversation, though. I know the party and the flirtin' really got you pissed off. I get that part. He shouldn't have done that. But, girl, you and Dom…you had something there that people look for their whole lives and never find."

Again, Jesse's statement threw me. Did he really believe that about us? Wow. I know that what Dom and I had was special. His mere presence would send chills down my spine at times. And as much as I hated admitting it to myself, I knew that I would never find that kind of love with anyone else. It was something rare. Something to be treasured. And we had not been giving it the respect it deserved. Dom and I should have been appreciating our love. But we both still looked for every opportunity to test our love. Lord knows that only an exceedingly strong love could withstand all the crap Dom and I put it through all these years.

I had honestly not recognized it as such until now.

"You're right," I said, looking at him. How had I never seen this?

But what now? Dom and I were still broken up. He was still in Mexico. And I was still here.

TBC

AJ


	27. Chapter 27

I thought for a second more before I continued. "We _had_ something special. When we were good, we were great. I just don't know if it's really that kind of love. You know, the one you say people search for. If it was, wouldn't we be together right now? Wouldn't he quit the shit with other girls and just be happy?"

"Alright, be honest. What was he actually doing with that girl?"

"I don't know. I was in the shower. But when I came out she was acting very familiar with him."

"So he wasn't like kissing her? Dancing with her? Proposing marriage to her?" he joked.

"Shut up, man," I said.

"Come on, Let. Girls have been throwing themselves at Dominic since, well since I've known him. Probably since you've known him too. Right?"

"What's your point?" I asked sternly.

"My point is he doesn't _do_ anything. He talks to them, and it pisses you off. When you talk to guys it pisses him off too. I don't know why you guys have so many issues with each other talking to the opposite sex. You just obviously do. But when it comes down to it, neither one of you actually does anything. You're the only girl he ever talks about. Even now. I think sometimes he likes to piss you off, though. Maybe that's just something y'all gotta work on. They call that communication."

"I don't know," I hesitated.

"And the party, well I'm guessing that part of the reason you got mad is because I'm laid up in the hospital. You don't gotta feel guilty. I'm just glad I ain't dead over that shit," he said honestly. He was preaching to the choir on that one.

"So you're cool that they're just continuing on as if nothing happened?" I asked, folding my arms.

"I don't think any of us are gonna be able to continue on as if nothing happened ever again. But if they wanna try to be happy, they're my friends, my family. I want them to be happy. I don't think they forgot about me. At least I hope they didn't," he smiled.

"No one could forget about the mad scientist! You're the brains of the whole operation," I smiled back at him.

"The reason I said that people look for it is because I've never met two people who are lovers, best friends, partners in crime, and work together. And even with all that, you still can't get enough of each other. You've been together for how many years, and you two seem happiest when you are just laying around together. Shit, I wish I had that. I think we've all been under so much fucking stress. And you and Dom have taken it out on your relationship."

"You going soft on me, Jess?" I mocked.

"Now, why you do that? I'm trying to have a moment and you gotta be such a smartass," he stated, throwing up his hands like he was done with me.

"Just doing what I do best. You know that mushy shit never flies with me."

"Yeah, well it's probably just the meds they got me on," he continued to smile, motioning over to his machines.

"So what do you think I should do now? And don't say call him. I'm not doing that. You even agreed with me that what he did was fucked up. He needs to be the one to make that kind of a move. I'll be damned," I said, going off on an unseemly rant.

"Chill girl, that ain't even what I was gonna say," he replied, finding humor in my rampage.

"Okay then."

"Don't do anything," he said plainly.

"Excuse me?" I asked, surprised.

"Don't do anything," he repeated, slower, as if he was talking to a young child. "You're right. He needs to apologize. And I know Dom. He'll call."

I pondered over this for a minute. He seemed so certain.

"Guess we'll see," I replied.

We didn't talk about it again. We didn't really talk about anything else serious. We spent the next couple of hours watching television. Mia finally had been able to hunt down the doctor, who reported that Jesse was making a miraculous recovery. He should be able to leave the hospital in three or four days.

When nighttime fell, the staff kicked Mia and I out of the hospital.

"You hungry?" Mia asked on the ride back to the house.

"I could eat," I told her. "Are you?"

"Sure. Want to get some pizza or something?"

"That's cool," I agreed. I could definitely go for pizza.

We pulled into a local place just outside of Echo Park. We went in to order.

"Not one with just veggies," I said, knowing Mia was going to try that. "I ain't a rabbit."

"Then not one with just meat," she retorted. "I'm not a dinosaur."

"Let's just get pepperoni," I decided to try as a compromise.

"And…" she urged, as if I should have kept going with my topping preference.

"…cheese," I said, unsure what she was looking for.

"That's fine," she agreed. "But you realize that is just meat."

"And cheese," I defended, as if that made a difference. "That's dairy."

"Not the cheese they use here," Mia joked.

We ordered the pizza to go and waited at a nearby booth.

"Glad you started eating again," Mia said to me.

I shot her an annoyed look, "haven't been that hungry."

"Looks like you've lost some weight," she said, eyeing my face.

"My clothes are still fitting fine," I reassured her.

They brought out the pizza. We took it home and Mia slipped in a movie. The pizza was hot and the cheese was stringy. It was pretty delicious. I had a couple of slices, trying my hardest to get involved with the movie. But before it even ended, exhaustion overtook me.

"I'm going to bed," I told Mia.

"Already?" she asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I'm tired."

"Okay. Night," she said, turning back to the movie.

I walked upstairs. I crashed on the bed, not even having the energy to change clothes. I shut my eyes and sleep instantly came upon me.

I was there, alone in a room. I didn't recognize the location, but it felt familiar. The walls were all white. I looked around, before noticing that I wasn't alone. The room had gotten longer and there was a bed at one end. Someone was sleeping in the bed. I approached it cautiously. The sleeper was big, engrossing the bed. Then, as I came up to the bed other furniture sprouted up in the room. I noticed it was the bedroom from my childhood. And the person sleeping in the bed was Dom.

I sat on the end of the bed and looked at him. I wondered if he had come back for me. Should I wake him? He looked so calm. So peaceful. But I noticed him barely stir. He spoke my name, though I knew it was in his sleep. He said my name louder, more distressed.

I wanted to respond to him. Tell him that it was alright. I was there. But my voice would not work. I tried desperately to yell out to him, to call his name. But I only produced a deafening silence.

Gently my hand touched his shoulder. As my skin made contact with his skin, his body disappeared. I lost him. I looked around the room. He was gone. The furniture around me began to disappear.

Startled, I woke up. I shot up, noticing a cold sweat covering my body. My heart was beating rapidly. I looked around. Still alone. And still dreaming about him.

I looked down at the clock. It was 2:00 in the morning. I relaxed a bit, as much as possible after a freaky dream. I moved my legs off the bed and stood up. There was no way I was going to fall back to sleep so I decided to get some water.  
I walked to the stairs and my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I descended the steps and walked into the kitchen. I poured a glass of water and sat down at the kitchen table.

The last time I had a bad dream, I had Dom to comfort me. It had woken him up and he gently brought me out of the hell that my unconscious mind had created. I remember awaking so scared. My heart pounding out of my chest. I could actually see it beating. And Dom's arms wrapped around me. They encased me. His words were gentle and sweet. They sounded so strong, so protecting. I was instantly soothed. Wrapped in his love.

Ugh, then an ache of annoyance overcame me. Fuck him. God I was still so angry with him.

I wondered what he was doing. I wished he was here. Mainly so I could kick his ass.

But no, that wasn't the only reason. I missed him. My heart hurt when he wasn't around. I felt off balance. Why hadn't he called me? Jesse spoke with such certainty. I wish I could have been that certain about him. About us.

Without realizing, I had walked up to the phone. The sound of the dial tone brought me out of the trance. I wanted to call him. That's what my heart said. And my fingers, obviously controlled by my heart, not my brain, pressed the numbers.

I pleaded with myself to put the phone down. Quickly, before something happened.

I heard the ring. Once, twice, three times. And then…

"Yeah," his voice answered from the other end.

Shit. I honest to God didn't think Dom would actually answer the phone. What were the chances? Why couldn't it have been Vince, or Leon? Or no one? What do I do?

"Yeah, hello," he repeated.

Still just silence. I didn't hear anything in the background. And I certainly didn't have the lady balls to utter a single syllable.

"Hello?" he asks a little more forcefully.

That's when I noticed. Something in his voice. What was it? Frustration? Exhaustion? Or, was it something more. Maybe even a stitch of sadness.

"Who the fuck is this," I felt his anger intensify. It wasn't like him to get so worked up in a matter of, say, ten or fifteen seconds. He was on edge.

"Whatever," he remarked, slamming down the phone receiver. He hadn't known it was me. If he had, would he have said something?

Why didn't I say anything? Why did I even call?

But his voice continued to haunt me even after the call had ended. I had heard Dominic's voice sound like that, or at least similarly. That was his tone when he was in Lompoc. A dark mixture of sadness (still grieving from his father's death), guilt (from his altercation with Linder), and anger (for being forced to abandon his world and being thrust into a violent, dangerous lifestyle that mandated him to become a person he hated the most).

Everything was running through my head. Why was he awake at two o'clock in the morning? What had he been doing that night? What was he doing now? Why did the cadence of his voice emit the same Dominic I remember talking to on that prison phone all those years ago? Was he sad? Guilty? Angry? Why?

Then my mind began to talk that all to familiar direction. He was up at two o'clock in the morning. What, was he with another girl? Probably. What else would he be doing up at two? And he was mad that the call interruption acted as a brief cock block?

And if he was sad, and dare I even think, sad about being away from me, why hadn't he tried to call me? See me? Work things out?

Calling was definitely a bad idea. There was no way that I was going to make that first move. If he wanted to talk to me, he would have to do it. If he didn't, well then I was going to live with it. Eventually my heart would catch up with my head. And as the last word of the last thought flew out of my brain I was unexpectedly startled by a break in the silence.

_Ring. Ring._

It was the phone. Again, glancing at the clock, 2:12. Who would be calling at 2:12?

Then I realized, it was Dom. I knew. It was Dom.

I was paralyzed. Frozen to the ground. If I answered, he probably would be able to guess that it was me who had called just a couple of minutes before. If I didn't…

TBC

AJ

What do y'all think? Suggestions, reviews, comments- all welcome!


	28. Chapter 28

The ringing continued. I had no idea how many rings had passed. I did not know how many more rings it would take before he hung up. But regardless, I stood there. Part of me wanted so badly to answer. But another part of me, a dominant part of me, just couldn't. That part of me feared that he was just calling back because he was guessing someone at the house had called. It wasn't a genuine first step. And from him, I was going to accept nothing less.

It seemed as though the phone rang forever. But eventually, it stopped. And silence filled the room again. I did not know if I had made the right decision or not.

I decided to go back up to bed. I seriously doubted that I would be able to sleep. But at least I would be a safer distance from the phone.

I obviously was able to fall asleep because when I opened my eyes it was bright outside. I looked over at the clock. It was well after two o'clock in the afternoon. I was still wearing the same clothes I had worn yesterday. The jeans were feeling really uncomfortable. I slipped them off and threw them in an ever-growing pile of dirty clothes.

I stood up out of bed to put on some clean shorts. I had the worst cramps. And I felt bloated. Of course the pizza probably had something to do with that. I thought about it. God the last thing that I wanted was to start my period right now. It was always more of a burden than anything else.

I walked down stairs to find Mia doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen counters. How she always had motivation to clean was beyond me.

"Hey," I told her sitting down.

"Are you just getting up?" she asked, spraying some Lysol on the counters.

"Yes and no," I told her.

"I don't know how that works, but okay," she replied.

"I was up for half the night, just having a hard time sleeping."

"Still thinking about Dom?"

I nodded.

"He called."

Her words made me freeze.

"What?" I asked to check and make sure I heard correctly.

"He called. Several hours ago."

She continued to scrub the counters as if what she had said was no big deal. I was about to jump out of my skin.

"And…what did he say?" I didn't want to sound too eager.

"Asked how we were. He wanted to know about Jesse. And I was curious about how Vince was doing. He didn't really want to talk for very long. I don't know why he called because it seemed like he was trying to get off the phone from the second we started talking."

"Did he…" I started, but hesitated.

"He didn't ask to talk to anyone in particular. But I told him you were asleep."

_Anyone in particular_, God Mia was a nice person. That was a very polite way of saying, no Letty, he didn't ask to talk to you.

"How's Vince?" I asked, wanting to not talk about why Dom didn't want to talk to me.

"Dom said his scar looks terrible on his arm. But that he is getting a lot more strength back. I think Leon has been trying to get them to go running and stuff. They have been doing a little bit of racing to try to earn some extra cash. But it sounds like they are just sitting around the house most of the time. Oh and Leon bought a TV and a Playstation from someone. So the boys are occupied."

And all of the whores they inevitably have running around. Mia didn't say it. She didn't even hint at it. But it was obvious. They were racing. They were one the beach. They were drinking. There was going to be girls around.

I just nodded. I was glad to hear that Vince was getting back to himself. I was sorry to think that Dom may have been too. If he had all this free time to sit around watching television and playing video games, he had more than enough time to call. To call and actually talk to me.

"Want to go to the grocery store? We are totally out of food and I need some other stuff, too," Mia asked as she finished with the counters.

"Sure," I said.

We got into her car. As we pulled into the closest chain store near the old Pioneer Market, I noticed a pair of police cruisers sitting in the parking lot.

"Let's maybe go somewhere else," I suggested to Mia.  
"Yeah," Mia agreed.

As Mia began to make a u-turn, the police officers exited the store. They made direct eye contact with both of us. I couldn't help but notice that one of the officers looked extremely familiar.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath.

The two cops looked at each other and exchanged words. The larger of the two officers, the one that I recognized, leaned over to use his walkie-talkie.

"Hurry up," I told Mia. "Let's get out of here."

I noticed that as our speed increased, so did the police officers. They made their way to the marked vehicles and began to back up behind us.

"Fuck," Mia said. She turned out of the parking lot quickly, safely avoiding the oncoming traffic. But it was not quickly enough because one of the two cars was able to sneak in behind her, barely avoiding sideswiping a moving van. With that, he flipped on his blue lights and siren.

"Pull your vehicle over to the side of the road," he announced.

"Shit, what should I do?" Mia spoke with urgency.

"Don't fucking stop," I told her, turning around in my seat to try to estimate their distance. It wasn't far.

The other cop car was rapidly approaching, trying to weave through the traffic to catch up with his partner.

"Turn here, right here!" I yelled, urging Mia to take a side street on a part of town near our old high school. I was so glad we were in such a familiar area. I could drive these streets with my eyes closed.

"Where do you want me to go?" Mia asked increasing her speed and taking a road bump with fervency.

"Just keep straight, up to the railroad tracks," I suggested, looking around to see if Mia's car had anything that could be construed as helpful. It didn't. Surprise, surprise. It wouldn't have killed her to have a gun or something in the glove compartment.

The rapid maneuver had created slightly more distance between us and the cops. But not enough. As we closed in on the railroad tracks, the best thing that could ever happen, happened. Finally the car gods were smiling on us. A train was coming. If Mia was fast enough, and it was going to be so close, we could make it. That would give us the chance to get away from them. But she was really going to have to give it her all. Fuck, why hadn't I driven!

"Come on, Mia. You gotta make this!" I yelled. "You gotta make this!"

"There's no way," she yelled, pressing her NOS button, using that great Toretto Timing!

Hitting the bump of the track sent the car slightly airborne, but making the clearing. The tail end of the car cleared the track inches from the oncoming train. The loud tooting of the train's engine screeched, making my eardrums vibrate. My breath was caught in my chest. I may have been hyperventilating. I couldn't tell. But that had been really, really fucking scary.

Mia, slightly dazed from our two-second release from death, steadied the steering wheel as the car made impact on the ground. She continued her speed.

"Holy shit!" she finally released.

"Yeah, holy shit!" I agreed.

"Where do we go?" she asked, entering back into panic mode.

"Um," I thought for a second. We could not go to anyone's house that we knew around here. It would have to be somebody obscure. I could really only think of one place that we could lay low for a hot second before we figured out what to do next. "Let's go to Jared's house."

Jared lived in Pasadena. He was Jesse's second cousin. I hadn't talked to him in several months. But he was cool. He was the only family Jesse really had around. I knew he wouldn't rat us out. I also knew he probably wasn't going to be thrilled to be seeing us given the current circumstances.

"We can't go there," Mia objected.

"You got any better ideas?" I asked. That shut her up.

"Do you have that prepaid cell phone you bought?" I asked her, knowing that we had to figure out what exactly we needed to do now.

"Yeah, actually. It's in the purse," she said, motioning to the bag by my feet.

I scooped it up and began to rummage.

"You have so much crap in here," I commented before resting my hands on the phone.

"Who are you calling?" she asked.

"We can't go back to the house right now. You know they will probably come by looking for us," I said, trying to get my head around this situation.

"Why are they after us like that?" Mia said, interrupting my verbal train of thought.

"I don't know. Jesse said they'd been by to question him recently too. Something must be up with the cops. It better not be your lover boy," I warned.

"Brian wouldn't do that."

"Who? Brian Spilner or Brian O'Conner?"

"Letty!" Mia said.

"Fine!" I relented. And I knew that beginning that diatribe was counterproductive right now. "But it's got to have something to do with them going by to see Jesse. We need to just sit out somewhere until later on tonight. We can sneak back into the house if you need to get some shit. But let's give it some hours."

"Yeah, maybe we can get some stuff. But, Let, we got to get out of town now, I think," Mia said, looking over at me.

I feared that she was right.

"Call Dom," she said to me.

"Hell no!" I said. Was she insane? That wasn't happening.

"Seriously. You got to put the problems that you have with him right now on hold. Call him," she demanded.

"I'm not going to call him," I said strictly.

"Fine then. Give me the phone. I'll call him," she stated.

"No. We don't have to call Dom."

"Stop being like this. This is serious!"

"No shit. I know this is fucking serious. But just because we got some difficulty going right now doesn't mean we automatically gotta call Dom."

"Then what do you suggest doing?"

"Let's just get to Jared's house. Then we'll figure it out."

I put the phone back in her purse. I did not want to call Dom. That was not the route we were going to take. There had to be some other option.

"We could hang out at Jared's until night. Then we'll go back by the house. Park a couple blocks away. I'll get into the house and get some shit. Then we'll leave town," I suggested.

"Going where?"

"I don't know. Anywhere?"

"I'm pretty sure this is that point where things have gotten too thick for us here. We got to go down and meet up with the guys in Mexico," Mia said, pointing out the obvious answer I was refusing to accept.

"We can go down to Mexico. But we aren't meeting up with the guys."

"Why are you being so immature?"

"I'm not. That's not what this is. Mia, this was everything. This was my life. This was my family. My relationship with Dom. I am not just going to get scared and run like a fucking bitch back into his arms. I can't do that. I actually have respect for myself."

"So you'll go to Mexico if we stay somewhere else?"

I thought for a second. "Okay."

"Okay."

Mia drove to Pasadena. I had not been to Pasadena since, well probably the last time we saw Jared. Jared and Jesse were not really all that close. But family is family, so we saw him every couple of months. He would come to a barbeque at the house, or we would venture up to his neck of the woods. He wasn't into the racing scene. But he was glad that Jesse had finally found something that gave him purpose and a sense of self. I didn't have any idea what he knew about the hijacking situation. I didn't even know if he knew Jesse was in the hospital. I just hoped this was not about to be a situation where a lot of questions were going to be asked.

We actually made it to Jared's house without any further run-ins with the police. His car was parked in the driveway. He drove an old Nissan Frontier, all stock.

"So do you know if Jared knows anything?" Mia asked, somewhat reading my mind.

"I doubt it. Jesse hasn't mentioned anything."

She shook her head. We both knew what that meant- be vague.

He lived in a duplex. It was kind of run down, especially for Pasadena. But it was nice enough. Jared worked as a manager at PF Changs. He had since I had known him. The only other things I knew about Jared were that he didn't eat potato salad, loved to smoke Camel Lights, listened to country music, and dated some German girl named Ana.

Mia and I walked up to the door apprehensively. This wasn't exactly how I had planned to spend my day, throwing all of our burdens on yet another unsuspecting victim. But here we were.

Mia just stood there so I took the initiative and rang the doorbell. I heard fumbling around and then the door opened. Jared wore a pair of ripped cargo shorts and a gray tee shirt. I couldn't tell if he was trying to grow a beard or if he just hadn't shaved in a couple of days. Either way, it was a look that he could pull off. His hair was shaggy and streaked by the sun. Maybe he was trying to go for the hang ten surfer boy look.

"Mia, Letty," he said, opening up the door a little wider.

"Hey Jared, what's shakin'?" I asked trying to act like us arriving out of the blue was the most natural thing in the world.

"Not much. Can't say I'm surprised so see you here. Come on in," he said, moving out of the way so we could enter.

His place smelled like a boy. It was clean, well clean enough. But there were dishes in the sink and beer bottles on the counter.

"You guys remember Winston?" he asked. I looked down as a decrepit cocker spaniel made his way over, wagging his nub of a tail. I honestly had not remembered this dog. In fact, I think I thought it had died. It had to be about nine hundred years old.

"What's up dog," I said patting his head.

"Hey, boy," Mia said much more affectionately than I had.

"So, why aren't you surprised to see us?" I asked in reference to his previous statement.

"Where there's cops, I figured your crew wasn't far off. Want a beer?" he asks, walking over to the fridge.

"Yes!" Mia said. I was surprised with her vigor.

"I'm good," I said, shaking my head. "What do you mean 'where there's cops'?"

"A couple days ago a few uniforms come by here, start questioning me about Jesse, Toretto, all you guys. Asks me if I had heard from you. Wanted to see if I could get in touch with you," he says, opening Mia's beer and handing it to her.

I sat down as the table as Jared sips his beer, petting the dog in between. This whole situation, from Jesse warning me to get out of town, to the cops chasing us down by the old high school, to this definitely had me spooked.

"What'd you say?" I ask him lowly.

He shrugged. "Give me a little credit, Letty. I'm no narc. I just told them that I ain't heard from any of you guys in several months. If you weren't in LA, then I didn't know where you were. And I didn't know how to get in touch with you. They told me I was being uncooperative and left me with their cards."

"Can I see them?" I asked him.

He walked over to the counter and shuffled through some papers. He brought me over a couple of business cards. Among them one stood out as different, FBI, Detective Bilkins. So this went a lot further than just the LAPD. Great.

He sat back down and looked at us. "What are you doing here?"

Mia and I exchanged a look.

"You know what," he stopped us. "I don't wanna know."

"You're right. You don't," I told him.

"Did you get anything from the cops? Like why they were looking for us?" Mia asked.

"Yeah, they think you killed a couple people. Stole some trucks and electronics or something. They wouldn't give me too many details but I got the gist of it."

"No shit, who they think we killed?" I asked impulsively.

He shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't ask for names." Then he chuckled to himself. "So what you're saying is that other stuff…that stuff you did?"

I just looked at him. "Come on, Jared. You really think we'd do shit like that?"

"I don't think she'd do shit like that," he said, pointing to Mia. "You," he said, referring to me, "maybe."

I didn't know if I should be flattered or offended. But I couldn't help but laugh.

"Listen, we just came to hang out for a little while before we go back home," I told him.

"I don't think you should be going home any time soon. It ain't my business, I know. But from the way they were questioning _me_, if they know you're in the area they're gonna have your shit staked out," he warned. "You may be able to get in there. But you ain't leaving without handcuffs."

"Shit," I said, leaning back in my chair. He was probably right. They had come by to question Mia while I was in my dark stupor. But something had obviously changed. Something was making them more eager. And since they had seen us, had chased us. He was right. They were going to be all over the house, the garage, the store. We couldn't go back there. Not right now anyway.

"You ladies kind of look like you weren't exactly expecting to be running from the cops tonight," Jared said, looking between us.

"You could say that," Mia said, killing her beer.

"Hold on," he said, getting up and leaving them room.

I didn't know what he was going to do. But I couldn't really think about that right now. I had to think about what we were going to do. Our options were down to one. We had to leave town. And it did make the most since to go down to Mexico. Where else were we supposed to go right now? At least there we would be safe. And, Mia had agreed to stay somewhere else besides with the guys. I just hated it when my options resorted to one. It made me feel like a caged animal.

"Here," he said handing me a stack of money.

"Jared, no, I can't take this," I told him, trying to push it back.

"It's cool."

"Where did you even get all this?"

"You have your little secrets. I have mine," he smiled at me slyly.

I smiled back. We hadn't given Jared enough recognition all these years.  
"And you may need this, too," he said, pushing a Glock towards me. I reached for it and checked the barrel. It was loaded with seventeen rounds. And he placed an extra clip on the table.

I nodded to him.

"Why do you have a gun?" Mia asked surprised.

He didn't respond to her question. "If anyone asks you about it just tell them it's hunting season or something."

"Isn't it?" I asked rhetorically. Apparently the cops were hunting us.

"Now get outta here before you get _me_ in trouble, too," he smiled.

We made our way to the door. Mia stopped and hugged him. Jared and I just exchanged a look. I hoped to God we would be able to thank him, to repay him, one day.

TBC

AJ


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own The Fast and the Furious. Nor do I own anything related to one of Michael J. Fox's best movies (in my opinion) Teen Wolf, or Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, or the book Brave New World – yeah this chapter probably has too many references! But I hope you like it!

Special shout out to my fantastic reviewers: Geea2, layali86, Jarnac50, mac-reye, Princess of Darkness17, DieselFire, amdurrant

Thanks so much! Reviews are truly amazing and certainly don't go unnoticed!

With that, we hit the road. Pedal to the metal. This drive was all too familiar and had occurred all too recently. We headed down the highway, things flying by quickly. I knew Mia was trying hard to keep it within the speed limit in hopes of drawing no attention. But she was also nervous.

A flood of nausea overcame me.

"Pull over," I said to her urgently.

"What's wrong?" she asked, heading for an exit somewhere outside of San Diego.

"I'm gonna puke!"

She pulled off the road. I jumped out of the car, not even bothering to close the door. I grabbed my hair as I threw up, yet again. I had barely anything in my stomach so after the first round of liquid it was mostly bile and dry heaving.

"Are you okay?" she asked, taking charge of holding my hair and rubbing my back as I bent over.

"I don't know."

"Are you sick?"

"I don't know."

"Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No!"

I stood back up and wiped my mouth. What was wrong with me? When I was a child I used to throw up when I got really nervous. And I was really nervous now, about so many things. Maybe that was just what it was.

"You okay now?" Mia asked, finding a bottle of water in the back of her car and handing it to me. It was hot but I didn't care.

I took the first sip and washed out my mouth. I drank the rest quickly. I nodded back in response to her question and we walked back to the car.

She merged back onto the highway and we continued our journey.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mia asked, concern pouring out in every word.

"Yeah. I think all this shit has just gotten me worked up or something," I said to her. What else could it possibly be?

"You don't think it could be something more?"

"Like what?" I asked turning to look at her.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I've been too busy aiding fugitives to make it to medical school. But throwing up so much can't be normal."

Now it was my turn to shrug.

"You think you've got food poisoning or something?

"I haven't eaten since that pizza. And you're okay, so I don't think it was something I ate."

"You don't think you're pregnant do you?" Mia asked cautiously.

"God, fucking no!" I exclaimed, or more like shouted at her. "Don't even go there! It's just nerves, okay? And you're testing everyone of them right now."

"Okay. Jesus, I was just asking."

"No, no. Definitely not."

I flipped on the radio and scanned through the stations. I found one station that was playing hip-hop and figured that was something we could probably agree on. Just then the next song came on. It sounded like a remix. And was just so familiar. It took me a second.

"Holy shit, do you know what this is?" I asked her excitedly.

"No," she responded.

"This is the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle theme song!" I said. I had not heard this song in years. It brought back so many memories. I remembered one year when I was a kid and dressed up like Michelangelo for Halloween. Dom had given me shit about it but I didn't care. I loved that costume. I would wear it now if I had it. And nunchuk his ass.

"What did they do to it?" she asked, commenting on how the 'remix' really strangled the original version.

"It sounds like they're raping my childhood," I told her. I couldn't listen to such disgrace. I changed the station.

We drove for about another thirty or forty minutes in silence. Before Mia finally spoke.

"Call Leon's cell," she suggested. "We got to tell them that we're coming down. And we need to figure out a place to stay."

"Okay," I conceded. I reached back into her purse for the cell phone and dialed Leon's number.

It rang several times before he answered.

"Yeah, hello?" Leon said, he sounded out of breath.

"Le, it's Letty. Why you out of breath?"

"Just got these lazy beasts to get their fat asses off the couch and go running with me."

"Why?"

"Ain't shit else to do down here. Can't sit around and drink beer all day or I'll lose my girlish figure," he joked on the other end.

"Wouldn't want that to happen," I smiled.

"Never. So what's up? How's tricks in LA?" he inquired.

"Ugh," I sighed. "Tricks are for kids. We're heading your way."

"Yeah?" he asked, optimistically. "Why? Where are you? You with Mia?"

"What is it with you guys and your multiple questions. Yeah I'm with Mia. We caught some heat so we gotta lay low for a while. We're about a half hour out."

"What happened?"

"Don't really know. Cops are buzzing like crazy right now though. Even went to question Jared and blowin' up Jesse's shit at the hospital. And then there was a little maneuver that we had to pull this afternoon. Everything's good though. We just figured better safe than in jail."

"Yeah. No I agree, girl. Get your ass back down here. Don't risk a thing. And Mia. Glad you're dragging her with you! Besides, we miss you."

"Well I'm not sure that everyone feels that way. But we're heading there anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, Leon," I told him.

"Ah, Let, you know it's not even been…" he started. I cut him off.

"Listen I'm not staying at the house. Can you find us another place to crash?"

"You're not even staying here?" he asked. I could tell that he was personally offended by this statement. But that was a price I was willing to pay.

"No. So will you help us out or not?"

"Always, girl. Let me see what I can do. Call me when you get here."

"Okay," I said, hanging up the phone.

"So do you think going through the boarder is going to be…okay?" Mia asked, hesitantly.

"I don't think they give two shits who goes down into Mexico. It's when you come back you gotta worry." I tried to reassure her. But I didn't think much was going to reassure Mia right now.

By the time we crossed over into Mexico, the sun was hanging low in the sky. I was nervous and my stomach was churning. I didn't want to see Dom right now, and not like this. I spent the better half of the car ride just trying to not throw up. I had been surprisingly successful. We decided to stop off and pick up some things, since we left town in a bit of a rush.

We went into a drug store. I grabbed a basket and began picking out shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothbrushes, and all the other necessities.

"Do you want to get this too?" Mia asked. I looked down to see the item in her hand of which she was referring. The letters EPT jumped off the box. It was a pregnancy test.

"Why would I get that?" I asked condescendingly.

She shot me a look. "Don't you think it's better to maybe know?"

"Will you get off this kick? I'm not pregnant, okay?" I insisted.

"Fine," she said putting it back.

"Get some drinks and chips and stuff," I said to her.

After we had more than enough drug store crap, I decided that it was time to call Leon. I sent Mia to the register to pay and I stepped outside.

"Hey," Leon said after only two rings.

"We made it," I told him.

"Good. Listen are you sure that you don't just wanna stay here?"

"Never been so sure about anything in my life."

"Dom's pretty pissed that y'all are looking for somewhere else to crash."

"Why?"

"Because he misses you, Let."

That caught me a little off guard.

"He hasn't told me that. I'm pretty sure the last thing he said to me was _fuck you_. Not the most endearing thing I've ever heard."

"He's right here. Do you wanna talk to him?"

"No! Leon I don't. I want to talk to _you_ about where Mia and I are gonna stay. If Dom wants to talk to me then he can man up and call me himself."

"Alright, chill. I's just asking. Yeah I found you a place. It's maybe about half a mile from where we're staying. Not a very nice place. But the guy I bought the Playstation from is renting it out and it's on the beach. He said that he'd meet you guys over there if that's what you want."

"That's what I want. Where is it?"

Leon gave me directions and Mia came out of the store, arms full of bags.

"Jesus, what all did you buy?"

"We need stuff. We don't have anything."

I took some of the bags from her and walked back over to the car.

"Did you talk to Leon?" she asked.

"Yeah, he found us a place about a half mile from the guys' place. He said it wasn't very nice, and if Leon's saying it, it must be really shitty."

"Great, I can't wait," she mocked enthusiasm.

We got back into the car and I read Mia the directions. We made it there and stopped the car out front. It was, as Leon had said, not very nice. In fact, that was an understatement. I was surprised it wasn't condemned. But it was on the beach. So I thought that it could have possibilities. And besides, hopefully we wouldn't be there for too long.

I got out of the car and Mia followed. There was another car in the drive so I assumed the man who was going to rent us the place was inside. I grabbed the gun just in case.

I opened the door; it creaked. Great, this house was straight out of a horror movie. Probably Norman Bates was on the other side of the door about to go Psycho on us.

But, much to my surprise it was a younger looking Hispanic fellow. He didn't look like he was going to kill us.

"Hola," I said trying to get his attention.

"Hola senioritas. Your friend said me you look for the places to rent, yes?" he said with a heavy accent. He was trying to speak English but failing miserably.

"Si, inmediatamente," I told him. (Yes, immediately)

"Este lugar está disponible," he replied (This place is available).

"Estupendo! ¿Cuánto es la renta?" (Wonderful! How much is rent?)

"Ya se ha pagado." (It's already been paid)

"¿Qué?" (What?)

"Se ha pagado." (It has been paid)

"¿Quién pagó?" I asked with immense suspicion. (Who paid?)

"Un hombre llamado Dominic," he informed. (A man named Dominic)

"What's happening?" Mia chimed in.

"Dominic paid the rent already," I told her.

"Oh, awesome," she replied casually, looking around at our humble abode.

"Yeah, wonder what strings are attached to that one," I replied.

"¿Cuál es el problema?" (What is the problem?)

"No, no problema," I attempted to reassure him. (No, no problem)

"¿Desea?" he asked, handing me the keys. (Do you want it?)

"Si, muchas gracias," I said, accepting the keys from him. (Yes, thank you)

"Dile a tu amigo seguiré en contacto." (Tell your friend I will be in touch)

"Bueno." (Fine)

And with that, he left. And we looked around at the place we were going to call home for an indefinite amount of time. Leon was right about his description. It was on the beach. I liked that. I left Mia to do whatever it was she felt a need to do and I walked out on the beach.

"What's up stranger?" I heard an all too familiar voice ask from behind me. A smile formed on my face.

I turned around to see Vince. I noticed the scar on his arm right away. It did look bad. I also noticed that fact that he had not shaved or cut his hair since well before Race Wars. He looked like he was actually trying to turn into a coyote.

"What's up teen wolf?" I said, walking towards him.

"Missed you girl," Vince said while coming in for a hug. I felt it in the closeness of his embrace. It was nice to be missed. It was even better to be with family.

"Missed you too," I told him softly.

"What are you doin' out here? Mia's already trying to get us to start cleaning!"

He led me back inside, before Mia went to come looking for us. Sure to his word, she was dusting things off and barking orders. Apparently the furniture in the den was just not in the right place.

"This can not work here!" she exclaimed as if it was the worst possible thing in the universe.

"Damn, it's like Armageddon's upon us!" I joked. It felt great to joke with them.

I noticed Dominic's absence. I appreciated it. But it also hurt.

I was pretending to dust the bookshelves. But having a hard time focusing on the task. They had a bunch of books. That was neat. I started scanning the titles as Vince and Leon moved furniture around to make the room a little easier to maneuver- at least according to Mia. One title stuck out to me. I recognized it from high school. I hadn't read it. But I think I was supposed to have.

"So do you know anything about Brave New World?" I asked to Vince, as he was the closest person to me.

"Yeah," he said, looking at the cover intently.

"Besides that it's a book?"

"No," he admitted.

I laughed. "I guess I asked the wrong person."

"What?" he asked, offended. "I read."

"Dude you can't even read a stop sign," Leon butted in.

I put the book down. I figured I would have plenty of free time to read anything I wanted. And since Mia had gone into another room, I used the opportunity to escape. Cleaning was never my thing. I walked back outside. The stars were out in full force. It was beautiful. The moon was so big and bright. I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

"You know the aliens won't take you if you act too eager," Leon joked. I hadn't noticed him coming outside.

"Shut up," I said punching his arm. "The stars are beautiful here. And the moon is huge right now."

"Yeah, it's pretty," he agreed.

"Thanks for helping out and finding us this place," I told him.

"No problem. I hate that you wanted me to do it. But I'm glad to be of assistance."

"I just couldn't stay with Dom right now."

"God, you guys just need to work it out!"

A brief laugh escaped my lips. "I don't think it's quite that simple."

"Only cuz you two are making it so hard. Do you have any idea what he's been like without you?"

"No because he ain't called me or anything. How would I know?"

"Well I'll tell you then. He's been fucking miserable, girl. He has been so miserable. I ain't never seen him so sad. All he wants to do is sit on the beach by himself and pound beers. He just wants to get into a drunken haze and then try to pass out. He wakes up and does it all over again. He doesn't wanna talk to anyone and is constantly on edge. I thought he was gonna punch V in the face the other day for just mentioning your name. He won't talk to me or Vince. He doesn't wanna have anything to do with any girls…"

"Huh, well that's a change," I scoffed, interrupting him.

"Wanna let me finish?" Leon interjected.

"Fine."

"He's not really even eating. Sometimes he'll just sit there and stare at the phone. It's weird. I'm really worried about him. He's just falling into like this depression. He stays up all night just sitting around going through Coronas or taking shots of fucking Wild Turkey. I didn't even know you could buy that in Mexico."

I couldn't help but laugh at that last part. Wild Turkey was disgusting. I remember Vince and Dom stealing it from Mr. Toretto when we were in high school. It made me nauseated just thinking about it.

"Are you saying that's my fault?" I asked him.

"No, definitely not," he continues. "But I think he feels like he lost the best thing in his world. The only time he would talk about it he said that he fucked it up so bad this time. He wanted to give you space. But that he didn't think he'd ever have the chance of getting you back. He said he'd ruined his life."

"You know, Le, this is real good and all. But he needs to be the one telling me this. Not you," I told him, looking out at the sea and trying not to get emotional.

"I know," he agreed. "Mia says Jesse's doin' a lot better."

"He is. Doctor says he can be out of the hospital in a few days. We got to figure out a way to get him down here," I told him.

"Yeah, we're working on that," he said vaguely.

"What does that mean?" I wondered aloud.

"I don't really know yet." He smiled.

We both knew that everyone would feel better after the whole family was together. Or at least in the same country.

TBC

AJ

I promise the next chapter WILL include a conversation between Dom and Letty.

Reviews would be fabulous!


	30. Chapter 30

By the time Leon and Vince got everything in the house in order, or at least according to Mia, I was exhausted. I found a room with a bed and crashed. Surprisingly I slept pretty well.

When I woke up I heard some noise from the kitchen. I got out of bed, though it was a challenge. I could have slept for days. But I was forcing myself to get out of this funk.

"Hey," I said to Mia as I entered the kitchen area.

"Good morning. I got us a coffeemaker. Do you want some?" she asked me.

"No," I responded. I had thankfully warded off my nausea for almost 20 hours. I didn't want to risk it by putting anything in my mouth.

"Okay," she said pouring a large cup for herself. "What do you want to do today?"

"I don't know. What are the options?"

Mia shrugged. "We could just go out to the beach I guess."

"Okay," I agreed.

"Do you want anything to eat?" she asked opening the refrigerator. She had obviously been shopping again because the fridge actually had real food. And the addition of the coffeemaker was a pretty good indicator as well.

"God no!"

"Still feeling sick?" she asked without looking at me.

"I'm just not hungry."

She gave me a skeptical look.

"I'm not," I replied defensively.

She shook her head. "Whatever. You still know what I think."

"Yeah. And I think you're crazy."

She laughed sarcastically. "_I'm_ crazy?"

"Jesus, please don't start this again."

"Okay, okay, fine."

"Let's just go out to the beach," I urged.

"Okay," she replied.

I slipped into the bathing suit that I had managed to find at the store- definitely not my most flattering look. But then, beggars can't be choosers. I guess I should just be glad that I was able to find one. It was simple, a dark blue color. I really did not care at all what I looked like right now anyway. I pulled up my unwashed hair and grabbed a towel. Mia, always the picture of togetherness, was sporting her much more tropical print. She could pull anything off though.

We walked out to the warm sand with our towels. Mia lathered on some sunscreen while I figured I had already faced the Mexican sun and not gotten burned. I was fine.

We spread out our towels and began to bake in the sunshine. It felt nice at first. Then it was so hot I was literally sweating from every part of my body that had a sweat gland.

"I gotta get in," I informed her, standing up.

"I'll come, too. It's freaking hot out here," she stated exactly what I was thinking.

"No kidding," I agreed.

"Whoa," she said stopping before we were even at the shoreline.

"What?" I asked, not wanting to stop until the coolness hit at least my feet.

"Check out the neighbors," she smiled.

I turned my head in the direction she was glancing. Some tanned male bodies immediately caught my stare.

"Damn!" I could not help but concur with her.

"I think I could stand living close to that for a little while," Mia stated waving at a couple of the guys who had noticed us.

"Don't," I warned to Mia. "They'll come over here. The last thing I wanna deal with right now is more fucking guys!"

"Ugh!" Mia scoffed. "You're no fun."

I just laughed and went into the water. I pulled her along for company.

And essentially we spent the next three days going through this same routine. Vince and Leon came over in the late afternoon. I had not seen or heard from Dominic since we had been down here. Vince and Leon mainly came over to pilfer through the fridge and eat Mia's cooking. I couldn't blame them. None of those boys had ever been able to cook for shit.

_A couple of days passed. _

When I woke up, Mia was gone. I wasn't sure where she was. But knowing Mia she was probably doing something beneficial. She often left while I was still asleep to buy us food or clothes or other necessities. I loved her for it. And was extremely glad she did not force me to join her on these outings.

I got up and started reading my third book since our arrival. I had heard of The Bell Jar before and Sylvia Plath. But besides a vague familiarity with the names, had no earthly idea what it was supposed to be about.

I took what was becoming my typical morning stance. I sat on the porch in an old rocking chair, stretched my feet out to rest on the railing of the porch, and turned to page 1 while the wind blew softly, the smell of salt air bombarded my nostrils, and the crashing waves provided the background music. By around page 40 it was pretty obvious this chick was nuts. The further I got into the book, the more I couldn't help but identify with Esther. The more her life progressed the harder it got to do even the simplest of things. Eventually just talking to average, everyday people became hard. I guess when you carry around a secret like being clinically insane, or being a fugitive, having a regular conversation with a regular person becomes increasingly more difficult. You don't want to give away any signs that could let this outsider pick up on the fact that you weren't "normal". It's funny how the more you read about crazy people, the more you begin to wonder if you are in fact crazy too. I had to put it down.

"I'm starving. Let's make margaritas," Leon said, coming into the house and announcing himself in a way that only Leon would.

"No mix, no tequila, no ice, no blender, but help yourself," I told him from outside. I put the scary book down and made my way towards him.

"Oh I got the tequila," he smiled.

"Good for you," I responded entering the kitchen area.

"Hey, hey, hey look who's back from the dead," Vince announced walking in. As soon as he moved out of the doorway Jesse entered the house.

"Jesse!" I couldn't help but yell.

I ran up to him full force and wrapped my arms around him. The impact made him unsteady on his feet and we almost toppled over. But I did not care. I was so happy to see him. That was the best surprise I could ever have imagined.

"When did you get here?" I asked him.

"Maybe fifteen minutes ago," he responded smiling widely.

"How?" I questioned him while still smirking wildly from ear-to-ear.

God Mia was going to flip when she saw him. I was elated.

"Um," he hesitated and looked at Vince. Vince's face hardened.

"How?" I repeated adamantly, my elation starting to die a bit.

Again Jesse and Vince exchanged a look.

"What's with the weird looks?" I asked, getting worried and pissed at the same time.

"Fuckin' Buster," Vince mumbled barely audible.

"Brian?" I questioned. "What the fuck does he have to do with anything?"

"He was the only one…who, uh, could make it past the cops. They were swarming the halls of the hospital. I guess just waiting for me to be discharged. I wasn't actually fully discharged but they had said I was okay to leave. You know my all, everything, whatever checked out. The heart rate, blood count. I don't know. You know all that stuff they check for. I felt like they were taking my blood pressure every fifteen seconds. Jesus that was terrible. That cuff gets really fuckin' tight!"

"Wait," I said stopping his rambling and attempting to bring him back on topic. "So what does Brian have to do with any of this?"

"Well we sorta snuck out. I guess you could say," Jesse explained tentatively.

"How'd you get here?" I realized I was giving him the third degree. I also realized that I didn't care.

"Brian drove me down to the boarder. And they came and picked me up," he continued.

"You arranged a rendezvous with Spilner…O'Conner…Jeez whatever the fuck we're calling him these days!" I said to Vince shocked. I was flustered. And kind of angry.

"Hell no!" Vince replied both loudly and obstinately.

"I did," Dom said walking in the door. His body made me feel like I was seeing a ghost. Chills ran down my spine and the back of my neck.

Yep, my elation was totally dead. I had not seen Dom since I had left Mexico. I was back. I had been back. And now…. here he was. Right in front of me. His presence filling up the room like an atomic bomb emitting TNT. It was powerful, deadly. And even still, I didn't know whether to run up to him and kiss him, or kick him in the face. So I just stood there.

"Hey," he said looking me in the eyes.

"Hey," I responded without emotion.

"So it seems like a welcome home shot is in order," Leon said attempting to cut the tension that was thick in the air. So thick you could swim through it.

He reached up and pulled down five shot glasses and grabbed a bottle of tequila that was hidden in his cargo pocket. I guess if anything could ease the tension in a group like ours it was alcohol. Of course it was also known to have the opposite effect. Life's a gamble. Guess we were going to roll the dice and see what happened. Story of my life!

I edged closer to Leon to take a look at exactly what kind of tequila he was pouring in our glasses. I was very, very picky when it came to tequila. Dom used to call me a liquor snob. But I was perfectly fine with being selective in this area. Especially considering I was relaxed in so many other sections of my life.

I did not recognize the brand, which was never a good sign. I had certainly done the legwork on this over the years. He unscrewed the cap and the smell of the cheap tequila was then the only thing filling the air. Before I knew what was happening, I felt that all too familiar wave of nausea that was becoming a household sensation in my life. I barely made it over to the sink, throwing up in my hand a little bit on the way.

The three boys spoke simultaneously as I puked.

"That wasn't the reaction I was expecting," Leon responded.

"No drink for her," Vince said.

"Ew," was what Jesse opted to say.

I finally stopped heaving and looked awkwardly at the four males staring at me. I felt like I should probably say something. But nothing really could come to mind to ameliorate the situation. So instead I just washed off my hands and rinsed out my mouth. Maybe I could just pretend like it never happened.

"Are you okay?" Dom asked. I had not even noticed him walking up behind me.

"Fine," I dismissed. "You know cheap tequila makes me puke. Come on Le, I thought you could do better than that. It's Mexico for Christ's sake!"

"Oh so this is my fault," he asked uncomfortably in disbelief.

"Clearly!" I responded.

"Well…."he stopped. "Anyone wanna take a shot that's not gonna barf everywhere?" he asked raising up the glass. Vince and Jesse participated with him, lifting up their glasses to toast the family reunion.

"Who's up for another?" Vince said slamming his glass down.

"You guys have fun," I said and made my way back outside. Obviously taking tequila shots was not going to work for me right now. And I did not want to stand around self-consciously with Dominic right behind me.

I walked out to the porch. It was high tide. The waves were crashing onto the shore with such purpose. To me watching the ocean was like watching a fire blaze, it was mesmerizing.

"Can we talk?" Dominic asked from behind me.

I had not expected him to follow me out here. At this point, I was finished expecting anything for anyone. It was safer. He wanted to talk. I had wanted to talk to him too. God knows how many times I had wanted to talk to him. And now, here he was. Was I ready? Did I want to hear what he had to say? Was I ready to say everything to him? I did not even really know what I wanted to say anymore. I think I was still mad. No, I knew I was mad. Furious in fact. And sad. Disappointed. Disheartened. Maybe even heart broken. But was I ready to disclose it all? If I really wanted to do it I guessed that now was as good a time as ever.

Roll the dice.

"I guess," I replied lowly.

He started pacing back and forth across the porch. I kept waiting for him to say something. Nothing escaped his lips. I would be damned if I was going to start this discussion. It was irritating. I had to break the silence. And the pacing.

"Are you gonna talk? Or are you just gonna walk around?" I said harshly. I regretted the tone but the sentiment was true.

"I just don't really know where to start." He stopped pacing and faced me.

"Then why do you even wanna talk?" I questioned his intentions.

"Because…shit Letty I never thought all this would make me lose you. More than anything, that's the last thing that I wanted. I've been fucking miserable without you," he said candidly.

"Yeah, right," I said in disbelief, rather sarcastically.

"Why would you even say that right now? I'm trying to be serious with you. Actually talk to you," he responded fairly offended.

"Then what the fuck took you so long to do something?"

He rubbed his head out of frustration. "Jesus, Let! You get insanely pissed because I, what, talked to someone? And then you just up and bounce without saying nothing to nobody. And I'm supposed to know exactly how to handle that situation?"

"You coulda tried to maybe apologize or…" he stopped me.

"Apologize? I didn't do **anything wrong**! I seriously had a conversation with somebody. You want me to just be fucking mute?"

"Yeah that's exactly what I said, Dominic. I want you to be fucking mute!" I stated sarcastically.

"So if there's a girl around I'll just say 'no I'm sorry I can't talk to girls. My girlfriend may out of the blue decide to jump countries on me'. I mean that makes zero sense."

"You are beyond infuriating if you think that's what it is!"

"I'm infuriating?" he questioned rhetorically. "Because it kinda seems like you're forgetting that I tried to talk to you. I called you. You wouldn't talk to me."

"You're the one who hung up on me! What are you talking about that I wouldn't talk to you?" I said calling him out on that first conversation we had after I got back to LA.

"All you were saying was that you needed time and that, apparently, I was suffocating you. Shit that's not talking. That's pretty much doing the opposite of talking to me about it. I can't read your mind, Letty. If you're not gonna tell me then how can you expect me to have any clue about what's going on with you?"

"And then, what? You just couldn't call me ever again?" I asked, trying not to get too emotional.

"Honestly, I thought you'd call me when you were ready to talk. I was trying to give you time to not be so damn suffocated, or whatever the hell was going on. I made that attempt."

"One time. You called me one damned time!"

"And you called me one damned time," he stated adamantly. "And that is what broke us up."

"God, don't even mention that drunk dial we had. That **so** does not count as '_talking'_ about shit!"

"Did you call me that night just to break up with me?" he asked, a twinge of sadness overcoming his face.

"No, honest to God I didn't. But I could hear that you were back to your old ways. And I just couldn't handle it anymore!"

"What? _My old ways_? Leon fucking invited people over to the house after they literally forced me to go out to a bar. I didn't know those people that were there. I didn't really even care to talk to them. I was still just confused by why you weren't there. Why you had left. I wasn't doing shit. But you just jump to these conclusions about me. It's kinda unfair. I've loved you, Letty. I've never done shit behind your back."

"Then why couldn't you have just called back. You know, sober. Just told me that? That's what I needed to hear, Dominic," I told him.

"Do you know how many times I tried to call you? How many times I wanted to call? How long I just sat and stared at the phone trying to figure out what to do? You're not exactly the easiest person in this world to talk to when you're pissed. And I didn't know if you were still pissed. Or if you'd just written me off. Or what was going through your head."

"Well you didn't try to find out either."

"Okay!" he said finally. "Jesus, I'm sorry! I fucked up. Is that what you wanna hear? I will admit that I totally fucked up. Royally. I thought you needed time. And then it became too much time. And then you got drunk, and I got drunk, and we said stuff that I _hope_ we both regret. And then I never heard from you. And, yeah, I'll admit that I was pissed. I was pissed that you left. I was pissed that we broke up. And I was pissed that you never tried to call either."

"I did try to call," I admitted.

"I mean, I know you talked to Vince and Leon. But you never tried to call me," he said assuredly.

"That's not true. I did try to call you. One night. It was really late. Before I knew what was happening, I was calling you. But as soon as you answered…" I started but he finished my sentence.

"You hung up? That was you that night?" he asked. "I knew it. I knew that was you. I could feel it. I called back though. No one answered. _You_ didn't answer."

"That was because I knew it was you," I confessed again.

"Well that was fucking helpful," he said sarcastically.

"Okay, fine, I guess I fucked up too," I finally admitted. "I didn't wanna break up with you. And then I thought about calling. But I didn't know what to say. Or when to say it. I was mad. And I was really just…I don't know, confused. Confused about what was going on. And about what wasn't going on."

"I was confused, too. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to get everything right with the family before I tried to really see you. I knew that the second you were coming back to Mexico and refused to stay with us. I knew you were mad. And I knew you were upset about everyone being so far apart. Hell, I was too. But I needed to at least make that part right. God knows I've fucked up so many other things. I mean we wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me. I had to bring Jesse here. Make us a family again."

"Dom," I started. "You've been blaming yourself for all of us having to be down here the whole time. And despite what I think when I'm pissed off. It really isn't _all_ your fault. That's not saying that you couldn't learn a hell of a lot from listening to other people. But I said it before, we all make our own decisions."

"And you made yours. To leave me," he said looking directly into my eyes, into my soul.

It was at this moment that I did sort of regret it. I regretted being so impulsive. I regretted having so much pride that I couldn't just talk to him and admit my insecurities. But that was not who I was. I could talk to Dom about almost anything. But that part, I still struggled with. "That hurt, Letty. It really did."

"Do you know how much it hurts me? To see you flirting with those other girls? After everything we've been through, Dom. To see you still doing that."

"I'm sorry," his voice sounding so genuine. "I never wanna hurt you." He walked up to me and put his hands on my arms. He looked so serious.

"You did. You do," I said looking directly back at him.

"So what? You get me back by hurting me too? Is that what we do?"

"I hope not," I told him. I loved him. So much it hurt. But I could not be in a relationship like that.

"I promise, Letty, I really promise you that I will try so hard to never hurt you again," he said, his body getting so close to mine I felt heat radiating from it.

"I'm sorry," I choked out softly. "I am sorry that I left. I'm sorry that…I don't know. I mean I knew you were hurting too. I am sorry that I can't just talk to you about certain things. I want to. I'll try. I don't want…us to do that. To run away from each other when things get hard. Or when we just get pissed off."

"I don't either."

"So…"

"I love you. So much," he said cutting off my words.

"I love you, too," I told him. I looked into his eyes. He looked back at me.

TBC

AJ

Okay, so there's the conversation. I had a really difficult time writing this. What did you guys think? Good, bad? I can change it if there are any suggestions. I felt like there were so many emotions going on from both sides that it was tough to word it perfectly.


	31. Chapter 31

Thanks so much to my AMAZING reviewers! You guys seriously rock my socks off!

Princess of Darkness17, mac-reye, dan dani, layali86, & the Guests! You make me want to update that much sooner

* * *

A scream of joy – I think – from inside the house broke me out of my trance with Dom.

"Oh my God!" Mia was screaming, dropping the armful of bags she had been carrying. She was hugging Jesse so hard he looked like he was about to lose consciousness.

I smiled at them. I figured she would react this way. It was so great to look around and see everyone. My whole family.

"What are you doing here?" she questioned but still did not release her tight embrace on him.

"You're gonna have to let me breath a little to explain it," Jesse choked out.

She let go but did not take her eyes off of him.

"Okay, spill it," Mia urged.

"Actually it'd probably be better if you just asked your brother," Jesse said, motioning over to Dom.

"Dom," she said just noticing his presence. She walked up and hugged him. I guessed that it had been a while since they had seen each other as well. "Wait, Letty? What are you two doing together?"

I didn't look over. But I could feel his eyes staring at me. No response really came to mind.

Honestly, I didn't really know what we were right now. I was not exactly pissed off anymore. What he had said sounded genuine. And I was willing to give it another go. But if he crossed that imaginary line again I was going to have to murder him in his sleep.

"We _were_ talking until you started screaming bloody murder," he responded smiling back at her.

She smiled between us. "Well excuse me for being a little surprised. And excited. So what's going on? Is everything okay now? How did you get Jesse back here?"

"He was about to be discharged from the hospital. I talked to Brian about getting him out of the hospital. Word is that the heat is pilling up pretty high on us. No one needed to be on that side of the border. V and I went and met Brian just by the line," he informed her.

"Why the sudden interest from the cops?" Mia asked to no one in particular.

"Not quite sure," Dom responded. "I've asked Hector and some others to do a little digging around. We need to know what we're up against.

"This whole thing sounds really shady," Leon stated.

"Ugh!" Mia let out. "I'm just glad that we're all down here now."

"Mia you wanna a tequila shot?" Leon asked, walking back over to the wretched shot glasses. "Maybe you can handle what your girl couldn't."

"Shut the fuck up, Le," I spit out.

"_You_ couldn't handle a shot?" Mia asked surprised.

"It's cheap tequila. Give me a break!"

"You still know what I think," Mia suggested vaguely.

"And you still know what I think. We're not going there again. End of conversation!" I stopped her immediately.

"What the hell are they saying? Is that some secret girl language or something?" Vince asked.

Leon shrugged a reply.

"I think I'll wait till after lunch before I start taking shots. But thanks anyway," Mia told Leon as she started putting away the items from the bags.

"You gonna make lunch?" Vince asked hungrily.

"Maybe, if you guys will get out of the kitchen and give me some space," she glared between all the guys. She did not want any 'help' from the guys. Past experience had shown that all they ever managed to make was a mess.

"You don't have to ask me twice," Leon said as he grabbed a beer from the fridge and darted out on to the beach.

"Come on, Jess. You gotta get some color on that pale ass of yours," Leon called back into the house.

Jesse got up to join his friend.  
"Hey, Jess," Mia called over as she started cutting up some vegetables. "Good to have you back." She winked over at him as he smiled bashfully.

"Thanks," he managed to snake out before exiting the house.

"You get more beer?" Vince asked examining the contents of the refrigerator.

"Sorry I didn't take orders before I went to the store this morning," Mia stated with a tone of irritation.

"Oh, my bad. It's cool. And, uh, thanks for making that. Lunch I mean," Vince said noticing his offense. He walked over and examined the food on the counter. Vince wasn't picky. He would literally eat anything. Especially anything Mia made.

After Vince walked out of the room towards the beach it was just the three of us.

"Are you coming out to the beach?" Dom asked me.

"Letty, I need your help for a second," Mia called over intentionally.

I just shot her a look. She needed my help in the kitchen? That was not likely. Not even believable. She may as well have just said _Letty, I want to talk to you about what's going on with you and Dom_. It meant the same thing.

Dom smiled between us. I just shook my head and walked over towards the kitchen.

"I'll meet you out there," I told him.

He leaned forward, suggesting a kiss. But I resisted. Standing up and walking over to the kitchen. He let out a disappointed smile, glared into my eyes, and walked out towards the beach to meet the others.

"Way to be discreet," I told her sarcastically as soon as the door was closed.

"What are you talking about?" She was fain to pretend innocence.

"Yeah right," I refused to yield.

She just shrugged submission. "Whatever. I don't care. So what's up? Are you and Dom okay now?"

"Since it's obviously your business…" I hesitated and raised my eyebrows at her.

"I'm his sister, your best friend, and we all live in the same house. It's definitely my business."

I couldn't help but smile. Girl made a point!

"Well I don't really know what's going on yet," I admitted.

"What did you talk about?" She was obviously not going to accept my answer.

"We fought most of the time."

"Of course you did. That's what you two do. But then after the fighting, did you work it out?"

"I don't know. He did admit that he fucked up. I think that maybe things have a chance of working out now."

Mia smiled. Apparently this response was better in her eyes.

"Stop smiling like that," I said as she refused to wipe the sappy grin of her face.

"I told you that y'all would get back together. But no one ever listens to me!" she replied smugly.

"I said _maybe_ we'd get back together. We still got a lotta stuff to work out."

I joined the boys on the beach. They were drinking beers and tossing around a football. I wanted to talk to Dom. But first I wanted to just enjoy everyone being together. We would have plenty of time to talk, I had no doubt.

We all decided that in honor of Jesse's arrival we would go out and celebrate. I had not had any interest in going out since I had been back. But things felt better now, more complete. I was starting to lose some of the bitterness I had built up.

After I got out of the shower I started to pilfer through the clothes that I had collected. I could not tell if I was excited or just tired and dreading the whole thing. The boys came into the house after they finished getting ready. They were so loud, their arrival was obvious. I was pulling up my hair into a messy bun when Dominic entered my doorway. He just stood there. I could feel his eyes burning into my skin.

"What?" I asked a little more harshly than intended.

"You're just beautiful," he said still staring.

I smiled over at him. He cleaned up pretty well himself.

"You ready?" he asked as I made my way over to him. I leaned upward, anticipating a kiss. But as soon as his lips started lowering to mine I pulled away. This teasing him thing was a great deal of fun. But I was not sure how long I could keep it up when all I wanted to do was throw him down on the bed and rip all of his clothes off.

"Oh come on!" he groaned, frustrated when I pulled away. "You can't keep doing that."

I just plastered on a smug smile and walked out into the common room to join the others.

"Holy crap, that is a loud shirt," I said to Leon who was sporting an insane Hawaiian print.

"What? I think it matches his hair," Vince joked.

"It matches everybody's hair," I agreed. There were so many colors in that shirt it sort of matched everything, and nothing simultaneously. If he was aiming to look like a tourist, he hit the nail on the head.

"I like it. And you know the ladies will," Leon pompously replied.

I exchange d a look with Mia. These guys could be so haughty.

Leon suggested a bar. I was the last to argue given as I had no even left the house since I came back to Mexico. And I was quick to notice that there was not really a gigantic difference between clubs here and clubs in LA. Of course LA had a much greater diversity and variety of clubs. But in terms of scantily clad people, thumping bass, and loads of liquor, it was basically the same scene.

Leon and Vince, seeming much more at ease, made themselves at home quickly. They had even picked up a few key Spanish phrases. Some of them actually made sense. Watching them was enough entertainment for me. I sat at the bar beside Dom and Mia. Mia was trying to make Jesse dance- 'at least until you get tired'. Leave it to Mia to have stipulations on fun.

After a short protest, Mia and Jesse hit the floor. That just left me. And Dom.

He finished off a Corona and looked over at me. The top few buttons of his collard shirt were unbuttoned, reveal the top of his chest. I could not deny how sexy that was to me. He shot me a sensuous smile and approached me closely.

"What do you say?" he asked me deeply. "Do you wanna dance?"

I could smell the light scent of his aftershave. And even amongst all the chaos and bustle, the only words I heard were his. I looked up at him. He was staring into my eyes as soon as they caught his gaze. That look was hypnotizing.

"I don't know," I replied, trying to not get swept away by him so soon. "I can't decide if I'm still mad at you or not."

He cupped my chin with his hand and lifted my face upward. Our lips were practically touching when he said, "you're not." He pressed his lips down to mine. And in that moment he was right, I wasn't.

It had been a while since I had felt his lips on mine. And despite any time elapsing, it felt like the most amazing and natural thing in the world. As it turned out, making out with Dom was like riding a bike. No matter how long it had been, I had no problems whatsoever.

His tongue pressed into my mouth. I put up very little resistance. I leaned into him reflexively. I felt his body, hard, standing its ground. His arm wrapped around my back, securing me closely to him. His hands were on either side of my hips when they began to slowly snake up my arms. They rubbed my shoulders before meeting by my neck. His thumbs brushed my checks as his fingers rested behind my neck, pulling my face into his more completely.

We smiled into each other, teasing slightly before entering back into a kiss. His mouth formed so closely with mine I could feel his eyelashes flutter against mine. I pulled against his neck, begging him for closer interaction, as if that were possible. His hand felt downward and squeezed into my right breast. That was when I realized we were in public. And, I may still be in a fight with him. It took every string of willpower I had to pull away. I certainly didn't want our first night back together to be us having sex at a public bar in Tijuana.

"What, what's wrong?" Dom asked breathy as I pulled away.

"Not here," I whispered to him.

He sighed heavily but did not protest. "Still wanna dance then?" he smiled.

"I guess," I said, trying not to smile as much as he was.

He took my hand and led me out towards the group of people on the floor. "Don't act too excited," he said turning back to me as we approached a gap we could slide into the crowd.

I didn't respond. I just allowed him to lead me. He found a space and pulled my body up to his. I had no idea what the band was attempting to play. But it has a saucy beat so I could make it work.

He pulled my body flush with his and we began moving to the music, our bodies so in sync with one another just flowing with the beat. He turned me around and came stalking up to me from behind. I leaned back into him as his hands began to explore my stomach. They edged down towards my waistline. I allowed him as my hands wrapped around his back, tightly gripping each toned muscle in the process. His lips made contact with my neck. He began to nibble and breath heavily into my ear. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to be taken up into ecstasy.

As the night wore on I was getting tired and Mia was getting drunk. We decided that it was time to go home.

When we left the club we made the walk back to the house. It was nice to walk through the streets. The air felt cool. Because Vince and Leon wanted to stay, Jesse was left to escort a fairly tipsy Mia down the road.

Without much of a thought, Dom grabbed my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine as we strolled down the street. I could not help but smile inside. Tonight was exactly what we had needed. I was still not completely sure where we stood. But it was better than it was yesterday.

As we turned a corner I felt a stranger close by. And then, heard the all too familiar sound of a gun cocking as the stranger entered into the light.

"Okay, no body moves, no body speaks," a heavily accented Hispanic man said to us.

"You have got to be kidding me," Dom let out under his breath, irritated by the guy's assumptions that we were just a bunch of dumb tourists.

The man was dressed in oversized dark pants and a white undershirt. He walked towards us with purpose.

"Look who we have here. Dominic Toretto," the man said with certainty.

"Do I know you?" Dom asked the guy gravely.

"You're about to never forget me, ese." The guy said approaching Dominic closer and holding the guy at point-blank range. "Or maybe your sister should first," he said turning the gun over to point at Mia.

That was all it took. Dominic grabbed the arm that was holding the gun. He bent it back, breaking the guy's elbow on contact. He dropped the gun and I moved over quickly to retrieve it. Once it was securely in my hands, I aimed it towards the stranger. Dominic punched him in the face and threw him against the wall of an abandoned building. It created a lot of noise, especially when the man let out a moan. Voices were heard in the distance. This did not seem like the kind of place we should stick around.

"If you ever put a fucking gun to my head again you'd _better_ kill me with the first shot. And if you ever threaten a member of my family again I promise that I _will_ kill you with the first shot," he said slamming the man against the wall one last time for good measure.

However before it was possible to push the guy for information on how he knew where us and where we were, we heard a distant sound of Mexican police cars. We had just fled from LA because of the cops. We certainly were not going to get caught by them down here.

"Fuck not again," I said. Could this nightmare of running never be over?

But we were an experienced group. We did not waste anytime before hightailing it away from the scene. We cut through backyards and took small streets before it was certain the coast was clear. We made it back to the house. We were all out of breath and I was totally confused about what was going on.

"Dom who was that guy?" Mia asked. It was impossible not to distinguish the panic in her voice.

"I don't know, Mia. But the fact he knew my name means something ain't right," Dom replied firmly. Dom pulled his phone out of his back pants pocket. He immediately started dialing.

"Who are you calling?" I asked him softly but directly.

"Vince," he replied before heading towards the porch.

"Why?" I asked him.

"This shit ain't going down. Not here. Not now," he told me before walking outside.

TBC

AJ


	32. Chapter 32

After a few minutes passed Dom entered back into the house. No one had really said anything since he left. What would we say?

"They're on the way back," Dom stated to the group in regards to Vince and Leon.

"What did they say?" Jesse asked him.

"V said that he ain't got a clue about the guy," Dom replied, trying to stay calm. He walked over to the fridge.

"What do you need?" Mia asked him trying to be helpful.

"Fuck!" he yelled loudly. "How the hell are we outa beer?" He slammed the refrigerator door shut and stomped back into the common room.

Jesse just looked at Mia. No one really wanted to say anything to piss him off further. I was very tempted to make a sarcastic comment, something along the lines of 'if you hadn't been drinking all afternoon there would still be beer' but I resisted. He was already mad. Mia was concerned. And Jesse was mute. I didn't want to throw fuel into our fire.

"What the fuck?" Leon stated loudly as he entered the house several minutes later. "No way in hell that was some kinda damn coincidence," he continued allowing himself to get much more heated than usual.

"Nah, that shit was planned," Vince added following in behind him.

Dom paced up and down the room. The rest of the team just sat around and looked pissed off. Or, in Mia's case, worried and scared.

"You really think so?" I asked Vince. "I mean, who would be plannin' shit like that here?"

"It wasn't from down here. It's following us from LA," Dom stated oddly calm.

"How do you know?" I asked him.

"Who's got beef with us down here?" he asked, somewhat rhetorically. Everyone knew the answer. We had all worked hard to stay under every possible radar down here.

"Y'all didn't race or anything while I was gone?" I asked the guys.

"Few small ones. It was no big deal. Not much money exchanged and we did our work at making sure we didn't piss anyone off in the process," Leon answered.

"You never know, though. You could have rubbed somebody the wrong way," Mia stated.

"So run through what happened one more time," Leon said to Mia. Vince got closer to listen to the details of the story again. Dom and I stood back.

I noticed Dom pull his phone out of his pocket. He flashed the screen over in my direction, in order to reveal the caller. It read 'Hector'. I looked around and noticed the rest of the team was caught up in Mia's rendition of the night's events. Dom shot me a look. I knew instantly what he's saying, without him using a single word. It's was a look that said 'don't say anything' and he shook his head slightly. He skulked back outside quietly.

I just stood my ground. Trying to act normal, listening to Mia's story. Mia concluded with the part about our group entering the house. She looked up at me. I sighed. It was supposed to be a fun night. But the second that became a possibility shit started again. I guess I should have seen it coming. No way were we out of the clear yet. Despite how we were trying to act.

I finally decided to do something. Everyone was standing around. No one had really noticed that Dom had disappeared. Maybe I could prolong the notice of his absence by getting a drink. I walked over to the fridge. Mia had stored quite a collection of juices and bottled water. No beer. Dom was right. I poured some orange juice and sat down on the couch beside Mia.

"Ugh, this is so frustrating," Leon let out loudly. He moved across the room.

The boys began discussing how safe it actually was for us in Tijuana right now.

"Where's Dom?" Mia asked me casually.

"Um," I hesitated and scanned the room for him, as if I did not know. "Outside I guess."

She nodded, accepting my response.

A few minutes after Mia's question, Dom entered with a grave look on his face. His eyes meet mine from across the room and I notice immediately. Bad news. Or at very least, not good news. He remained silent, and tried to enter back into the team without being noticed. It was pretty successful. No one called him out. Everyone was totally wrapped up in the situation.

"We have to do something. Something that does not involve stressing or worrying! I have been through enough of that lately," Mia finally interrupted the ever-thickening silence. "I bet somewhere is selling beer right now."

"What?" I asked. I was pretty sure that exact phrase had never been uttered by Mia before. Beer?

"The guys wanted beer. I have a little bit of vodka left. I might make a drink. Why don't you guys go get beer? We can make a bonfire or something. There is certainly no way that I am going to be able to go to bed anytime soon. Maybe we should do something fun. Get our minds off everything. God knows we really can't do anything about it tonight. Not until we actually figure out what is happening. We are still celebrating Jesse coming home. I don't want to ruin that!"

When Mia finally finished her diatribe about why _we_ should have fun, I decided that maybe she was right. Regardless of what Dom knew he wasn't spilling the beans to the team anytime soon. Why not just enjoy all being together again? Our problems would certainly still be waiting for us tomorrow. I had no doubt about that!

"That's a really good idea!" I lauded. "Come on, guys! We were having fun like an hour ago…okay, maybe two hours at this point. But come on. Just drive down to that mini mart. I guarantee you they are still open. Let's have a team party or something!"

"You know," Dom interjected. "That's not a bad idea. Here," he said, tossing a pair of keys over to Leon, "take Spilner's car."

That was an extremely helpful gesture. Immediately Vince said, "Yes! Let's go do that. I want to drive!"

"Jesse, pour a couple of tequila shots. I'll take one when we get back. Five minutes, tops," Leon said as he and Vince exited to make a run to the store.

"Yes!" Jesse said in excitement. "Who else wants one?"

Jesse immediately b-lined for the kitchen. He took down all the small glasses he could find. He poured so precisely into each glass.

I smiled over at Dom. He connected with me once again. His grave face began to soften. His lips slowly curled into a small smirk. He approached me.

"Well I might take a tequila shot," Mia smiled, standing up.

"More power to ya, girl," I told her, allowing her to fly solo.

Dom walked up and sat on the couch beside me. I looked over at him. Questioning.

"I'll tell you later," he said softly.

I nodded. I had encouraged the group to 'have fun' so I guessed that it was no surprise that Dom was trying to go with the flow for a while, before dropping the bomb on everyone.

"You look really hot tonight," he said, his face changing from serious to devious.

"You didn't look so bad yourself," I replied, allowing him to shift his body closer to mine.

He took his right hand and brushed a piece of hair behind my ears. Our eyes locked. Deadbolted for that matter. Nothing was getting through this. As his hand left my ear it stroked my check softly. Instead of moving, he lingered. With his eyes never leaving mine, he pulled my chin up. As my chin fell limp in his embrace, his lips crashed down into mine. I felt them, warm, soft. His lower lip taking my upper lip fiercely. Sucking on it briefly before releasing and immediately entering again. This time, his tongue exploring mine. I welcomed it hungrily. I wrapped my arm around his neck and pulled his head closer into mine.

"God, didn't you eat her face enough at the bar?" Mia asked entering back into the room loudly.

"Thanks for coming back in the room, Mia," I said sarcastically. My steam not diminished, but subdued.

"Don't you want a tequila shot, Dom?" Mia asked sitting down on the chair near the couch.

Dom smiled, his face still only inches from mine. He let out a few uncomfortable laughs. He perked up his eyebrows, "guess if a lime is the only thing I can suck on." His mouth still agape, I saw his tongue move up to touch his front top teeth.

I hated his sexy insinuation. He knew there was nothing I could do right now. Asshole.

I just shrugged.

He slowly groaned and stood up off the couch.  
"Jess, man, how's those shots coming," he hollered.

"Ready for the taking, brother," Jesse yelled back.

He smiled down at me once more before heading into the kitchen.

"So I think it's safe to say that you are Dom are back together," Mia said as soon as Dom was out of sight.

"I don't know. Shit keeps happening. And we haven't been able to get any privacy." I intensified my stare at her with the last part. Considering she was our main interruption during the most recent episode of lust.

"Excuse me," Mia over exaggerated. "Not like you don't have your own room."

"We're back," Vince announced, walking back into the house.

"Oh great!" Mia smiled. She walked over to the Leon and Vince. I followed. Everyone headed for the kitchen in time to witness Jesse and Dom finishing off a shot.

"Who wants round two?" Dom proposed to the group.

Dom could drink tequila and Jagger like water. I had no idea how he was able to do it.

"Yes!" Leon and Vince responded simultaneously.

"Jess? Another shot?" Dom asked, as Jesse grimaced at the taste of the shot he'd recently ingested.

"Yes," he coughed out.

"Girls?" Vince asked, glancing over in the direction of Mia and me.

Mia was putting the beer Leon had bought in the refrigerator. I was standing around, supervising her labor attempts.

"Um," Mia hesitated.

"You wanna do one," Vince smiled at her.

She smiled back. Was she flirting? I tried to take note. "Okay," she replied clumsily.

"Letty?" Vince asked, moving over to me.

"I'm good. You guys have fun," I said. The group looked at me immediately.

"What?" Leon asked, surprised.

"You okay?" Dom asked, equally shocked by my response.

"I'm A-okay. I'm just gonna have a beer," I said, reaching into the fridge to grab one of the new purchases.

Everyone, satisfied with my response, turned his or her attentions back to the liquor at hand. They toasted to one another, and chased the shot with newly cut lime wedges. I grabbed an extra lime and stuffed it into the top of my Corona.

The group all grabbed drinks and headed outside.

Watching Leon and Vince build a bonfire was a very entertaining event. With enough lighter fluid, it eventually started burning well.

"Dude that chick from tonight wants me to call her tomorrow. She gave me her digits," Jesse stated to the group drunkenly.

"You gotta call her. Say something like 'did it hurt?' And when she says 'what?', say 'when you fell from heaven'," Vince stated to him smiling. I was pretty sure that he was serious about this also.

"Yeah," Leon said, appearing to agree. "Don't say that," he clarified looking starkly serious.

"Then what should I say?" Jesse asked.

"Tell her you really liked meeting her. And ask to take her out to dinner or something sometime. That's what you do if you really wanna get in her pants," Leon advised.

"God I hate hanging around with you guys sometimes," Mia blurted out. "You are all chauvinistic pigs. Every one of you!"

It was fun having everyone just sit around on the beach. I made my way to a side of the fire and sat staring out into the water. The stars were shinning so brightly. I noticed Dom come up out of the corner of my eye. He sat behind me, my back pressed in his chest, and he wrapped his legs around me. It was so nice to feel him again.

I looked up at the moon. It was full. A telltale sign of something. Hopefully something good. Although with Dom's mood earlier, I felt it was doubtful.

Vince and Leon joked around. It was obvious that Jesse was getting drunk because it always made his ADD get worse. He would go from having a conversation, to just staring in the fire without warning.

I didn't really speak. Neither did Dom. We just laid back, together.

"Oh I hate it when that happens," Mia announced. For some reason, this statement brought me out of my trance.

"What?" I said, trying to get back in the conversation.

"When you turn the radio on and you realized that it just got to the end of a song you love."

"Oh, yeah," I said nonchalantly. That was definitely something that Mia got far more worked up about than I did.

"I hate when everyone around you is in such a great mood when you are in a terrible mood," Dom said out of nowhere. I just turned my head around and faced him. He gave me a pseudo surprised look.

"Dom everyone hates it when they are in a good mood and you are in a bad one. You can be a major buzz kill," Vince announced.

"Here, here," I said, lifting my beer in a toast.

I lifted the beer to my lips. The lime was mostly floating at the top. I took a small sip. With everything Mia had said, I hesitated. I knew it was ridiculous. But something in me caused me to stop. No one noticed.

"But you know what," Dom whispered in my ear softly. As I paused to respond, he kissed the area just below my earlobe.

"What?" I said, leaning into his kiss.

"I love you," he said, not relenting from the spot on my neck that drove me crazy.

"Such a softy," I teased, trying to resist.

His right hand, which was resting next to my arm, began rubbing up my thigh subtly yet forcefully. I was glad that other people were around or I would never have been able to withstand the urge to have sex with him right there behind the house.

"Do you wanna go inside?" he whispered into my ear as my hand blocked his contact from my pelvic region.

I nodded. His hand left my thigh and found my hand. His fingers gently wrapped around mine and he started to stand up. The group took notice.

"We're going to bed," he said casually.

I had to look away to avoid the looks that everyone was giving. I knew Mia was glad. And excited. And I knew she would be giving me an 'I told you so' type of smile. I was not going to give her the satisfaction of a glance. I didn't know what the guys were thinking.

Dom held my hand and helped me stand up. I walked in front of him and back into the house only saying "night" to everyone as I ascended the steps.

He followed me inside the house and closed the door. I turned around and faced him. He looked at me. I stood still but he approached me. I saw his hand lift to my cheek. He brushed a piece of hair behind my ear.

"Well there's no way you're not coming back to the house now," Dom smiled as he moved his hand down to caress my waist.

"Why don't you just stay here," I said, my glance falling from the floor to meet his eyes looking down at me.

"Babe I'll do whatever you want. I just wanna be with you tonight," he said lowly.

I led him into the room that I had used. i walked over to the bed. and sat down, the right strap of my tank still slipping off my shoulder. But I didn't have the strength to pull it back up. My strength was gone. Even the nerves in my body, totally shot. All for one reason.

Dom.

He was such a power in my life. I had been lifeless for weeks. And now, in his presence, I realized that he helped me to be the strong person that I am. He may not have been the power behind my strength. But he was the muscle.

He came up beside me and sat on the bed. I could feel him even if I refused to look at him. The bed shifted to his weight. What had loving Dom gotten me? Fugitive status? Heartbreak?

I was helpless. Helpless to him. I loved him. Despite how hard I tried, it was impossible to fight against our love.

"Letty." He kissed my bare shoulder lightly. How deeply I felt his breath whisper into my skin. But it was simply the utterance of my name against his lips. That was all it took. I had to stand up before I just collapsed.

I needed his touch. It was the most exciting and most natural thing in my existence. The longing was too much to resist. I stood up and walked across the room. I had to be very certain of what I wanted before…before it got too far in and I just could not stop myself.

Was it a mistake, getting back with Dom? Probably. But what I got from him….oh it was worth it. In Dom's arms I felt like a totally different person. A person who was strong, could do anything, conquer the world. The way they wrapped around me comforted me from the coldness of this world. So warm. All encompassing. His words, a melody that spoke directly to my soul. It is a mesmerizing experience. I was in a trance conquered by love and about a million hormones. Icing on the cake…damn he was sexy.

Before I realized where I was, he had walked up to me. His lips were on mine. I was kissing him back. I felt his tongue, deep inside my mouth. Oh God, I wanted to have him. To be with him. Feel him. Being alone had a tendency to be pretty scary sometimes. I wanted to feel at home in his embrace.

But I could not ignore the world whispering in my ear. Dom was one obsession that I should do without. Life with him was dangerous, for my physical and emotional safety. But, Lord, the world had no idea the kind of passion that existed between us the second the lights went out. I felt his lips move down to my neck, my collarbone. Then they savagely started exploring my body. I welcomed their ravage.

His hands, rough with calluses but smooth as they moved against my skin, begin to lower the other strap, exposing my breasts. It was hard to focus on what was happening, as my lips began moving around his chest. It was bare from hair, and I traced the muscle line as it curved a sensuous path towards his bellybutton. After encountering that, I felt his hands lift up my head. Again, our faces met for another passionate expression. Pleasure. There was no other word to describe the feeling that was overtaking my body at this moment.

His mouth closed into mine. The intensity caused my heart to race. My hands began to explore every inch of his body. I wanted to feel him all at once. He began to lead me back to the bed. I followed him, silently.

I sat on the bed. His hand on the back of my head, eased me to lay onto my back softly against the mattress. His eyes connected with mine while his hand remained behind my head as it rested on the pillow. His lips trailed down to my shoulder and began placing tiny kisses creating a trail of sensitivity towards my collarbone, then downward. His mouth moved down my chest as small moans escaped from Dom's lips unconsciously. His entire mouth engorged my nipple, sucking and gently pulling. The sensation created a feeling of warmth throughout my body. Tingling. I took his head in my hands. His eyes found mine as he continued to work from one nipple to the other. Meanwhile, his hand snaked up my inner thighs before resting around the edge of my panties.

His hand moved in between my legs. Though I still had on underwear, he moved his fingers in a circular pattern, before moving the fabric aside and plunging his fingers deep inside. My breath caught at the surprise. Then I smiled. I smiled into his kiss.

With his fingers entering and exiting in a rhythmic motion, his thumb explored the area above. His touch drove me close to insane. I had to have him. I wanted to feel him completely inside me.

His hands roughly removed my panties and tossed them into the background. As his hands moved back onto my body they traced upwards. His body edged forward on top of mine. Our lips met together in a kiss. I couldn't help but notice the feeling of his skin directly on mine. I was so hot at this point. It had been way too long. His erectness was touching my leg, and dangerously close to my opening. Close but so far at the same time. Feeling his presence was exciting. I reached down to lead him in. However before I could reach him, he grabbed my hands in his. He transferred both of my wrists to one of his hands and brought my arms up over my head. He used his free hand to reach down and touch me between my legs. His fingers made me flinch in excitement. He used his middle finger to trace around the outline of my opening. I was aching for him already. His thumb took charge rubbing my clit in the most intricate circles. He joined his middle finger with his index finger and began, once more, pumping in and out of me. If his hand had not had such a grasp on my wrists, my hands would have forced his length inside me at this point. The sensation of his hands, mixed with his overall demeanor, was too much for me to handle.

"I want to feel you inside of me," I finally told him after I felt like I would either burst or feel him.

"Always trying to rush. Sometimes a little foreplay is fun," he smiled, mocking me.

As I wracked my brain for a surly response his hand left me briefly. Seconds later I felt him. He was entering me. It was slow, his absence did not go unnoticed. I gasped, only slightly out of pain, mainly ecstasy. He pulled back out. The second time he entered it was faster and with more force. His weight pushed my entire body up the bed. I grabbed a hold of his arms and lifted my hips in an attempt to steady myself and start a deep pace.

He responded and gyrated into me further. He began to move in and out. Our rhythm was so in sync, it was working beautifully. I felt myself growing closer and closer to climax. As Dom would push himself inside of me I noticed his abdominal muscles flex. He was so sexy. The beds of sweat that formed on his chest just helped to accentuate his tone.

He quickly wrapped his arms around me. Suddenly we were switching positions. Dom lifted me on to his lap as he sat on the edge of the bed. I lifted myself up of him. Then fell back down into his lap, the new incline creating a greater sensation as it was able to hit just the right angle. I lifted myself up and down off of him as Dom used his hands to help lift and guide me back into the rhythm.

It only took a couple of minutes before I was about to explode.

"God, I'm so close," Dom let out, almost reading my mind.

"Come with me," I told him, suggesting that I was also about to climax.

"Oh, God," Dom groaned out. I felt him begin to go over the edge. This was all it took to send me into the clouds. My entire body felt like it was vibrating in pleasure. I lifted up and down a few more times. I felt his juices pumping and then his tension released. I opened my eyes, which I noticed had inadvertently closed. Dom was looking up at me. I pressed my face down and he moved his hand to the back of my head as we kissed and smiled at one another.

We laid down and Dom wrapped his arms around me. I leaned back and felt him. I smiled to myself.

"I want forever to feel this way," I said without even thinking.

"Me too," he agreed before we both fell asleep.

TBC

* * *

AJ

So this chapter did not do much as far as expanding the plot. But I had to take a minute to get a little more Dotty in there- since it had been so long!


	33. Chapter 33

I woke up and looked around. The sun was shinning in brightly from the window. The room was warm. I kicked off the covers and grabbed a shirt and Dom's boxers to wear. I had to pee so badly. Before leaving the room I looked over at Dom. He was sleeping. He looked so peaceful. It was a look that he was only able to achieve in his sleep now. Life surely wasn't giving us any sense of peace.

I made my way down the hall. After completing my business I decided that it would be too difficult to go back to sleep. I did not want to wake Dom up, disturbing that rare look of tranquility. I walked back down the hall. The house was laid out oddly. There were two definite bedrooms- mine and Mia's. They were side by side. And there was one bathroom. But there was another room off to the left side. We were yet to determine what the room was actually supposed to be. The house came furnished. This room consisted of a desk in one corner, a recliner and coffee table in the middle, and a mattress on a metal bed frame in the other corner. There was no closet and no overhead light. I suppose it was a sort of multipurpose room. As I walked by the doorway, which had no door, I noticed Leon asleep on the bed and Jesse passed out in the recliner. It was nice to walk down the hall and see the guys sleeping all around. It brought back a sense of home.

I walked all the way down the hall. The main room and the kitchen connected, forming a nice sized living space. Mia was already in the kitchen fixing breakfast. The smell of eggs and bacon frying sent my nostrils on overdrive. My stomach growled in anticipation. I was starving and had not even realized it.

"Oh, that smells awesome, girl," I told her as she looked up at me.

"Well you're the first one up so you get to make a very important choice. Do you want me to make blueberry or chocolate chip pancakes?" she asked as she mixed up batter in a large bowl.

"Uh, chocolate chip. Duh! Damn you're going all out. What's the occasion for all this?"

"Just the first time everyone's going to be together in a long time," Mia smiled.

I nodded. I assumed she was talking about Dom and me getting back together. And of course the fact that Jesse was back.

"Wow something smells good," an all too familiar voice said from behind.

I turned around. It was Brian. I almost jumped out of surprise. He was the last person I expected to see right now.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked him incredulously.

"It's nice to see you too, Letty," he smiled.

"Funny, yeah. But seriously, what are you doing here?" I said, not laughing.

"Got in late last night," he replied really offering no explanation.

"Dom's gonna kill you when he sees you," I stated plainly as Brian walked over and wrapped his arms around Mia.

She smiled up at him before pouring the batter into a frying pan on the stove. She turned the bacon and stirred the eggs, moving them off the burner.

"Well he wasn't the Toretto I came to see," Brian replied absently.

I just shook my head and walked away. What was Mia doing? I guess she had made her decision about Vince. I knew Brian had helped get Jesse out of the hospital. But that did not mean that he was forgiven and welcome back onto the team, or even near the team. I was sure still ready to kill him.

I walked outside and just stared at the sea. As if staring at a fire I became entranced until my stomach growling was louder than the ocean waves crashing. I walked back inside to the overwhelming smell of chocolate chip pancakes.

I was too hungry to object to Brian so I sat down. Mia brought over a giant stack as well as plates of bacon and eggs. I could not serve myself faster.

"Letty," Mia objected.

"What?" I said as I shoved a forkful of eggs in my mouth.

"You reached first. You say grace!"

"Ugh," I groaned at the wretched tradition.

"Dear God thank you for this food. Thank you for our family. And please help me to forgive all the busters that sit in my presence. Amen," I said while reaching for my fork.

Mia smiled as she said 'amen' quietly.

I ate several servings of eggs, four pancakes, and probably an entire slab of bacon. It was delicious. I was just glad I was wearing a stretchy waistband afterwards.

It was not long after I had finished my binge that I heard Dom wake up. It was obvious when he got up because it sounded like a bear was making his way to the bathroom and a camel was unloading his entire hump. I was very curious to see what would happen when he noticed that Brian was again gracing us with his unwanted presence.

As Dom entered into the main room his eyes scanned the surroundings. It landed on Brian. I saw his jaw clench but he did not say anything.

"Dom, what's up man?" Brian asked casually. Dom hesitated before fully entering the room.

"Brian," he said slowly. "You better be here because you got news."

He walked over to the table and kissed Mia on the head as he went by. He sat down by me and rubbed my knee under the table.

"I do. You talked to Hector last night, yeah?" Brian asked.

Dom nodded.

"It's all Lance. All of it. He's got all his people involved and that shit stretches deep," Brian said. Dom just nodded again in understanding.

"Wait, what's he talking about?" Mia asked looking over at Dom. I had forgotten that Mia had no idea about the conversation between Dom and Hector. Of course, all I really knew was that they had talked. And it was not good news.

"Lance…"Dom started and stopped. He thought for a second before he continued. "He's trying to pin everything on me. Not even the team. Only_ me_," Dom emphasized.

"Pin what?" Mia asked urging for further information.

"All the heists. Johnny's death. His own wreck. Even Jesse's shooting. Everything that's gone down around town," Dom stated.

"Yeah. He went to the cops the day after y'all left. He said he knew it all. He said you guys, particularly Dom, had tried to get him and Johnny in on the heists. Says he's got evidence against Dom personally that links him to all the shit that's gone down in LA recently. But most of his shit must be fabricated because now that this shit is getting heated, he's getting scared. He's got his own guys down here looking for Dom. Looking for all of you," he said glancing over at Mia sadly. "He knows that if any of you talk it's gonna disprove his story. And the last thing he wants is to look bad."

"What?" I asked unable to believe this.

"Not only that, Lance wants revenge for crashing him and Johnny. He wants payback for Johnny's death. He's got all of his guys working. And apparently they got guys _everywhere_ working for them," Dom told us.

"You mean that guy with the gun from last night?" I asked for confirmation.

Dom nodded, "one of Tran's guys."

"How could they be all the way down here?" Mia asked.

"They got to one of Hector's guys. Knew where we were staying," Dom told her.

"One of Hector's guys?" I asked scrupulously.

Dom nodded. "Juan."

My jaw dropped. There were no words. Juan. Juan had always been Hector's best friend. He had not grown up with us but he had been around the game for a long time. Of course I had always been a little skeptical about Juan. Sort of the same way Vince had been with Brian. I never fully trusted him. I guess now I knew why he seemed a little off. He was a rat, working for whoever paid the most. That was always the Trans. But Juan had helped Leon and Hector get the cars back from Race Wars. Juan knew when we left town. Hector had arranged a place for us to stay. No doubt Juan knew that also. He was the perfect man for Lance to pick. He knew it all and he was able to be bought. My mind jumbled with thoughts.

"So what does this mean?" Mia asked Dom as she tried to fit all the pieces together.

"Means we're getting everybody out of here. Today," Dom stated certainly.

"And going where?" I asked.

"South."

"South? South where?"

"South America," he told me.

"That's pretty broad. Wanna narrow it down more?" I asked him.

Dom shrugged. "Somewhere nobody knows about. Somewhere we don't know nobody. And we ain't gonna meet nobody either. We're laying low. Real low."

"Do the guys know about this?" I asked in reference to Vince, Leon, and Jesse.

"They will soon," he affirmed.

When the guys woke up, Dom explained what had happened. It came as a surprise to everyone. We all needed a little bit of time to absorb the information. Betrayal at the hands of someone so close was difficult to take. And the imminent danger was a very real fear at this point. We had to leave. There was no other option.

Much quicker than we had unpacked, we packed up all the stuff we could possibly fit in the cars. There was no need to tell anyone we were leaving town. That would only draw suspicion. And people would find out soon enough.

We set out on the open road, again. And as before, I was riding alone. We formed an interesting line of cars with Dom in the lead, followed by Vince, then me, Mia, and last was Leon and Jesse riding together. I did not know where we were going. I did not know if Dom knew either. But I guess we were going wherever gravity took us.

TBC

* * *

AJ

Sorry guys I know this is a short chapter. But I had crazy writer's block until today. I got the next chapter started and I'm really excited about it. Thanks to all my loyal reviewers. Hope you like where this is going.


	34. Chapter 34

As we began our descent into an unknown future I noticed another car trailing us. Immediately wariness arose. It was too bad we did not have our walkie talkies from the heists. I was unsure if anyone else noticed this new arrival. But I did not want to wait to find out.

I thought back to Dom – and how long we had been together. Everything between us, the heat, the energy, our chemistry was palpable. But outside of the passion stood a relationship that was very difficult to actually live in and out each day. I guess it did not matter. I loved Dom. I would do anything for him. I guess that was why I was driving God knows how many miles into the great unknown.

Falling out of formation, I dropped back. I was determined to at least lay eyes on this intruder. Mia, who was driving behind me, shot a look in my direction as she passed. I motioned for her to continue following Vince. The others raced by and I shot the gap in between Leon's car and the newcomer.

I studied the image in my rearview mirror. I'd have recognized that hair color anywhere. Brian. How the hell was he still tagging along? When we had been at the house in Mexico I noticed that he made himself very scarce when Vince and the others were about to wake up. And from there, we left town. I assumed we left him along with all the other problems. But I supposed that some of our problems were following us. I had a bad feeling that Brian may not even be the worst of it. He was, technically speaking, supposed to be on our side. That still did not mean I wanted him in our caravan.

I eventually moved back up to my place in line and followed along. I have no idea how long we drove or even what country we were in. I stopped paying attention. As more time passed my anxiety just increased. I wanted to be out of the car. I wanted to stop running. Really, I just wanted to go home. But that seemed a thousand light-years away right now.

We pulled over at a small restaurant somewhere off the beaten path. Everyone got out of his or her cars and I looked around. What a motley crew we appeared to be. It was obvious that none of us had showered or really rested in a while. I felt that the longer we traveled the more suspicious we appeared. Of course then I glanced at the clientele this restaurant attracted and realized, unfortunately, we were the most wholesome looking people around.

I looked over and locked eyes with Dom. He was heading towards the door of the restaurant with the others. Sometimes his gaze was sexy and playful. But other times it was so serious, unpredictable. This was one of those times.

I tilted my head at him quizzically but he gave nothing away. Surprise, surprise. He just motioned for me to continue my walk into the restaurant.

I walked inside to the boys already involved in a discussion.

"I ain't sitting at a table with that buster," Vince bellowed.

Dom just rubbed his head out of frustration.

"Come on V," Mia pleaded for peace. "He helped get Jesse out. He's one of us now."

"Nah, he ain't," Vince contested. "That kid'll never be one of us. All he's done is bring trouble."

"Yeah and helped us get out of it. Come on, Vince. Please. We don't know how far off the cops are. We need to just all work together and get along," Mia continued.

"Only pig I see is standing right over there," he motioned towards Brian.

"Dom I can't do this anymore," Mia threw her hands up in frustration.

Dom pulled Vince aside. I have no idea what they said. I stood on the sidelines just looking in. Whatever he said must have been effective because when they rejoined the group we all went and sat at the same table – or rather a group of tables pushed together.

I sat at the end, next to Dom. The waitress came up to take everyone's order. After the long car ride, the heat, and the stress, food was not at all appetizing right now. I declined on food and decided to just stick with soda.

"Why aren't you eating?" Dom asked quietly.

"Because I'm not hungry," I replied sharply.

"I don't know how long it's gonna be before we stop again. You should get something while we're here."

"Where are we going?" I asked, happy to change the subject.

"I've been working on…figuring out…some sort of plan," he stated hesitantly.

"What the hell's that mean?"

"We need somebody down here," Dom said cryptically.

"What? Need who for what?" I questioned for more information.

"Somebody with connections. Somebody that knows people. The right kind of people."

I could see that Dom's brain was churning. He had an idea. He just was not spitting it out. I hated it when he tried to create these riddles out of our life.

"Obviously you have somebody in mind. Who were you thinking?" I asked him.

He hesitated, which was never a good sign.

"Who?" I pressed.

"Honestly?" he asked.

"I thought you were always honest with me," I suggested suspiciously.

"I try to be," he plainly stated.

"That's a shitty answer." My mouth dropped.

"Babe I'm always honest with you. I just don't wanna play these freakin' games with you. I'll play freaky games with you. But I ain't playin' this freakin' games with you." His eyebrows perched up with the third sentence. It heightened my interest. Maybe I was just looking for anything to grab onto to suck me out of this terrible reality.

"What sort of freaky games do you wanna play with me?" I smiled at him. Dom was never a loquacious sort of guy. I had to take opportunities like this and run with them.

Dom just smirked. "Somebody's easily distracted."

"You have a really good way of distracting me," I smiled back coyly.

"You want me to distract you," he leered down at me wantonly.

"Maybe after you answer my question," I tried to not let him pull me away yet.

He looked away and grinned, though it was a frustrated grin. "What was your question?"

"Um…" with all the distraction it took me a second to recall. "Oh yeah, who are you trying to connect with down here?"

He hesitated for longer than necessary. "Your dad," he said quietly.

"What dad?" I replied with a mixture of sarcasm and truth.

He gave me knowing look. Dom knew about my relationship with my father. Or to more accurately describe it, the lack of a relationship. He had run out when I was very young. Leaving my mom to raise the kids alone. I never heard from him. He sporadically sent cards. But this was so inconsistent sometimes I would hear from him on Christmas, some years on my birthday, and some years not at all. Mom struggled relentlessly just to keep the family afloat. I resented the hell out of my father for this.

"Letty I know this is a crappy thing to ask. But we ain't got a lot of options down here and it may not be a bad idea to know _somebody _that could help."

His rationale was logical. But I sure did not want to hear it.

"Help? He ain't never helped a single person but himself in his whole damn life!"

"Then maybe you're due," he responded.

"I don't even know where he is. Even if I wanted to get in touch with him I don't have a number or an address. Nothing."

"Last you heard he was in Columbia, right?"

"Last I heard. But Dom that was years ago."

"So who would probably know?"

I shrugged, not wanting to entertain this conversation any longer.

"Your grandmother maybe?" he prodded.

"Maybe."

"I know what I'm asking. I hate to do it. But even if it doesn't help, it's not going to hurt."

"It might. He's a pretty shady person, Dom. What's to say that involving him doesn't screw us even further?" I asked.

"I guess…we don't know. But you're his daughter. I just don't think he'd do anything to hurt you."

"Except not be around my entire life?"

"Right, except that," he smiled as if trying to lighten the mood a little. I couldn't help but smile slightly.

"I'd just like to go on record saying that I think this is a shitty idea. But I guess life's already insane. May as well bring on estranged relatives."

Everybody ate pretty quietly. I munched on chips and drank my soda. No one asked very many questions. They were smart. They did not want to know. Me and my big mouth had to find out. And now that I did, I wished I did not know. He wanted me to call my dad? Fuck! I thought everything that could possibly go wrong already had. But nope, Dom was able to come up with something that would trump it all – getting in touch with my father.

One-by-one the team finished their meals.

I grabbed one of the cell phones we had obtained and sauntered over to the corner of the restaurant, out of earshot from the others.

"Grandmother, hi, how are you?"

"Wonderful! It's so nice to hear your voice, mija! How are you?"

"I am fine, Gran. Just fine. Listen I was wondering, have you spoken to papa lately?"

"Tu papa? Why do you want to know?"

"My friend and I we are doing some…er….traveling down in South America. It has been so long. I wanted to see him. Maybe have some lunch or something."

"Letty, my dear, I am not so sure that seeing your father is a good thing."

"I know, Gran. But I really want to. Can you tell me how to get in touch with him?"

She hesitated but relented. "I will give you his phone number. The rest is up to you. Just know that I love you, dear. And want nothing bad to happen to you. My son, God love him, makes some bad decisions. The best ever, though was you!"

"Thanks, Gran."

She gave me his number and I quickly got off the phone with her. I could not stand being so untruthful to someone who cared for me so much. At times, talking to her made me hurt. She only saw the good things about me, the good things in my life. And when things were as dark as they are now, having someone celebrate the joys was a little painful.

"Here," I said as I walked up to Dom and slammed the piece of paper with my Dad's number in his hand. I kept walking. I did not want to talk about it. I had done what he asked, as usual. And I felt shitty about it. This also was not a new feeling.

"Hey," he said, grabbing my hand before I could get away.

I looked back at him. My emotions showed right through my face. He looked at me. His gaze was sweet this time. I just raised my eyebrows, wondering what he could say.

He pulled at my hand, edging me close to his body. Heat radiated from him. I looked down at my hands to avoid looking into his eyes. I was somewhat mad about what I just had to do. I felt his hand graze my chin. He pulled it up so that my lips were facing his. I looked into his deep eyes.

He lowered his lips to mine. Before a thought could surface, our lips were connected. I felt his tongue tantalizing my sealed kiss. I opened slightly, allowing him entrance. He explored my mouth.

As my breath was starting to rasp, he pulled away. I was left, breathless and amazed at how he could sweep me away from my thoughts, away from this earth with just a single kiss. I loved that about him.

"I know this was hard. Thank you. I promise you that I will do everything I can to make this easier for you," he said sincerely, his lips still hauntingly close to mine.

"I don't care about easy, Dom," I whispered back to him. "It's never been easy. I just care about you. And me."

"You have me. And I won't let anything happen to you," he told me sternly.

I pulled away, walking towards the team outside. _I won't let anything happen to you_, his words resonate with me. We shall see! Lofty promises.

We drove for several more hours before finally stopping at a shady motel. It was under the radar, obviously, because no one in his or her right mind would stay here.

Dom, Vince, and Leon went inside leaving Mia, Brian, Jesse, and me standing outside in the darkness.

"Where do you think we are?" Jesse asked.

"From the looks of things and what we've passed, I'd say we're right outside of Mitú," Brian responded wrapping a loving arm around Mia and pulling her close. She smiled. Despite all my hatred for Brian, I was equally as happy for Mia. I wasn't sure where Vince stood in her world right now. But she seemed happy. And she deserved happy.

"Heads up, Spilner," Dom announced coming out of the motel office. He threw a key in his direction. I had expected Brian to be caught off guard, but he caught it with ease and shot Dom a nod.

"We're all on the second floor, middle," Leon said, pointing up. It was a location where we would be able to keep an eye on the cars. I doubted that this was an accident.

"I thought we were trying to stay under the radar. What are we doing at this motel? Won't they be able to trace credit cards or names or something," I asked, following Dom as he made his way to unload one of the cars.

"I guess they probably would if we'd used any of that. Fake names, cash only. Jeez, Let, you act like this is your first time going incognito," he smiled back full of sarcasm.

"I mean if I'd have known I was going to go all James Bond, I would have pulled out my spy kit. But I just didn't get enough warning," I smiled back at him.

"Here," he said and handed me a bag.

The others came and unloaded all the cars. With this many hands, the cars were unloaded much faster than they were packed. I assumed the entire team was probably as tired as I was. When you are on the run, it's difficult to really relax.

"Hey, Let, Mia, will you run down to the store and pick up some sandwich stuff that we can take with us tomorrow?" Dom called as he threw some bags over his shoulder. Watching him lift the heavy cargo with ease, seeing his muscles flex and tense under the weight was very seductive. I did not want to travel too far from this sight.

"Sure," Mia said quickly and pulled at me to join her.

"What the hell? Why do I gotta help?" I asked her as we walked the half block to a market.

"Because you're the only one who can speak Spanish," she told me.

Rarely did I think that would ever come back to bite me in the ass.

We gathered the sandwich materials quickly and walked back to the motel. I was somewhat surprised that the guys let us leave, given the imminent danger. But I assumed it was safe here and I relished in that feeling.

Mia and I walked upstairs. We parted ways at our separate doors.

I knocked a couple of times and waited for Dom to let me in.

He opened the door. He was wearing a towel around his waist, and that was all. His stomach flexed as he breathed in and out. His tanned abs created a ripple of seduction down towards the towel's edge.

"What'd you get?" he asked as if he was a small child.

"You wanted sandwich stuff. We got sandwich stuff," I told him smugly, handing the bags over. "Didn't have to send me out like I'm your errand bitch."

He smiled at me and walked back over to the bathroom area of the room. I noticed an ice bucket sitting on the counter next to the television. It had Corona's cooling. He had a lime, already sliced. And a bottle of tequila. A nice bottle of tequila. Where had these things come from?

"You expecting company?" I asked jokingly.

"Yeah, she just arrived," he replied looking at me in the mirror.

He slipped off the towel and pulled on a pair of pajama pants. They hung loosely around his waist, leaving the pronounced pelvic bone to trace a sensual path down to the waistline of the pants.

He walked back over towards me but stopped at the ice bucket. He pulled up a Corona and twisted the cap off in his palm. He handed it over to me.

"Such a romantic," I joked.

"Everyone's got their faults," he replied, picking up on of the limes.

"I don't want that. If you gotta add fruit to your beer, it ain't no good," I told him, a phrase he'd repeated to me time and time again.

He smiled that boyish smile I've been infatuated with since our childhood. "You learn from the best," he stated. "But this is for me."

He grabbed the bottle of tequila and a saltshaker that had obviously been hiding from sight. He walked over towards me. I was sitting on the bed, feeling a little nervous.

"Lay back," he told me. I looked at him, puzzled. But figured wherever this was going, I wanted to follow. I took a couple swigs of my beer, and complied.

He pulled up my tank, revealing my belly. He licked a small line on the area under my navel but above my pants line. The feeling ran through my body, sending flames to my groin. What was he going to do? I could guess. But I could not wait to find out.

Me poured some salt on the area and stuck the lime wedge in my mouth. Again, he licked a trail on my abdomen, took a sip out of the tequila bottle, and the headed for my mouth. He removed the lime, kissing my lips slowly. He sucked the juices from the green fruit and tossed it over on the floor. He moved his lips back to mine. I tasted him. He tasted wonderful. Sour and salty at the same time.

TBC

AJ


	35. Chapter 35

I woke up way too early and looked around. Oh how the mighty had fallen. The seedy motel looked even shabbier in the daylight. I sat up and looked around for my shirt. Clothes littered the floor from last night's escapades. I smiled over at a sleeping Dom. I reached down and picked up my shirt. I slipped it on before climbing out of bed. Heading to the bathroom, I grabbed my still full beer bottle. After those first two sips my mouth had been otherwise distracted. I poured the contents in the sink. I brushed the now dried out lime wedges into the trash as well.

I couldn't help but wonder what we were supposed to do here.

I turned on the shower and waited for the water to adjust to a near scolding temperature before stepping in. No matter where I was in the world, or what kind of trouble I was in, a hot shower always seemed to make things a little better. At least temporarily.

After all the hot water was gone, I begrudgingly stepped out. Pulling down a thin, off-white towel, I wrapped it around my body and walked back into the main room.

Dom was up and dressed. I was a little surprised.

"Morning, babe," he said placing a small kiss on my lips before flipping on the TV.

"Morning," I responded as I searched for some clothes.

A Colombian newswoman erupted the overall silence in the room. I only partly listened. I had enough going on in my own world to pretend to care about anything else.

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. Dom walked over and opened the door slightly, looking through a crack to check who was on the other side. He moved aside and allowed Mia to enter.

"Hey guys," Mia said in her typical cheerful manner.

"Hey girl," I said back.

"You wanna run with me to pick up a few things?" she asked me.

"Run where?" Dom asked suspiciously.

"Just down to the store. I need to pick up a few things we forgot. Relax," she told him playfully. Dom did not change his stance. I didn't think he was probably going to relax about anything any time soon.

"Eh, I guess," I shrugged.

Dom shot me a look.

"What? You let us go last night. And I can't just sit in this room all day," I told him absolutely.

"Fine. Just be careful and don't talk to anybody," he said commandingly.

"Mr. Bossy," Mia quipped before grabbing me and pulling me out of the room.

I followed Mia, glad to get out of the room for a little while. I walked slowly, letting her take the lead. I was trying to get a lay of this new land. It was a terrible place. We passed several groups of guys that shouted lewd comments. I had to fight back every fiber of my being not to knock each one of them on their ass. But I knew if I started shit with any of these guys, it would just prove to make Dom angrier and more stressed. I wanted to avoid both of these.

After we ran the errands Mia planned for us, we returned back to the hotel. The air was starting to cool slightly, thank God.

I walked into the room. Dom was sitting on the bed. He looked pensive. I could tell he was about to tell me something. And chances were it was something I did not want to hear. I tried to brace myself for whatever was coming.

"I talked to you dad," he told me stoically.

"You did what?" I asked in disbelief.

He did not bother to repeat what I had inevitably heard. My mouth was agape and I was trying to figure out what to ask first.

"When?" was the first thing I could mutter.

"When you are Mia were at the store," he said, moving so that his feet were hanging off the side of the bed.

"What? Were you just waiting for me to leave so that you could further fuck up my world?" I asked indignantly.

"No," he replied plainly.

"Then why did you call him?"

"Let, V came by this morning. He went out last night. Even though I told his ass to stay put. He went out. He went down to some bar. On the way back, somebody started shooting at him. He couldn't make out who it was. He didn't take a gun because….because he's an idiot," Dom explained. I stopped him.

"How do you know that has anything to do with us? I mean, you ain't exactly got us shacked up at the Ritz. Maybe it was just some punk out tryin' to start trouble," I attempted to reason.

Dom just shot me a look.

"What?" I asked, getting more frustrated.

"They called him by name, Letty. It could have just as easily been you or Mia. We can't just keep running. Obviously that ain't working. We gotta do something."  
"So what does this have to do with my Dad?"

"Do you have any idea who your Dad is? Who he works with?" Dom asked me seriously.

"No. And I don't care. He's never been nothing but trouble. Why do you want to go looking for more trouble? I think we got more than our share right now."

"Yeah. You're right. We got way more than our share of trouble right now. And if we don't want a bullet in somebody's head real soon, we gotta get more help. We gotta figure out who's behind all this, and how deep it goes. Then we got to get to the source. I'm not letting you and Mia spend your entire lives hiding and dodging bullets."

"So what are you saying?"

"You're Dad's based in Peru. Have you ever heard of Sendero Luminoso?"

"No," I responded. It was Spanish. I knew what it translated to. But I had no idea what it was. "It means shining path, if that's what you mean."

"It's also a political organization in Peru. Or, well political is probably not the best way to describe it. I think that was how it started. Now it mainly operates as Proseguir (Onward). The group is really active in the production of coca leaves and transporting them to Columbia. Because of this they are pretty involved in laundering as well. They run cartels. They are also known for the relationships with a lot of Asian heroin traffickers, sometimes exchanging cocaine for heroin."

"Dom, what are you getting at? What the hell does this have to do with my dad? With us?" I asked, becoming frantic. I could see that whatever direction this was heading was going to suck.

"Your dad is one of them. One of the big ones. He has these connections with groups all over not only South America, but North America too. If people around here are after us, if there was orders handed down from LA, chances are he might know. Or could find out. We need his help, Letty."

"And you talked to him?" I asked, in a daze from all this information.

"Yeah. He wants to meet up, said he was going to help us get this figured out. Get this executed," Dom said gravely.

"What executed?" I probed.

"An end."

"So what does this mean? Where are we going?" I asked Dom suspiciously.

"_We _are going to Columbia. You and Mia need to stay here."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked him, a mix of fury and shock.

"These assholes are after me. Not you. Not Mia. If anything I need to lead them away from you and Mia. Your dad is in Columbia right now, on business," he said, smiling slightly at the suggestion of 'business'. "Vince, Leon, Jesse, Brian and I are going up there to meet with him and some of his partners."

"Dom, that sounds like the stupidest idea you have ever had. That sounds like a real good way to get fucked by even more people."

"Your dad's worried about you Letty."

"Well that's a change," I said snidely.

There was a knock on the door. It startled me out of my rage and confusion.

I walked over and opened it to find Vince. Vince holding a suitcase.

I moved aside to let him in. He looked up at Dom. Dom nodded and stood up.

"Now? You're going right now?" I asked surprised.

"You didn't tell her?" Vince asked Dom.

Dom rubbed his hands over his head in frustration.

"Don't do this, man. This is a stupid idea," I told both guys.

"You got a better one?" Dom asked.

I didn't. I had no idea what we needed to do. Disappear. But how could that happen?

Dom waited. But when I failed to respond, he walked over and started throwing stuff into his duffle bag.

"Get the guys together. I'll meet you out front," Dom stated to Vince. Vince nodded and left the room.

I walked up to Dom. He avoided my gaze as he packed up more items. When he was finished he turned to face me.

"I'm gonna get us out of this. Everything's going to be okay. I love you," he said, looking at me. I looked down at the floor. His hand lifted my chin, brining my eyes to meet his. "I love you," he repeated. "Look at me so I know you're hearing me."

I nodded at him. And looked at him. I didn't want him to go.

He leaned over and kissed me. He took the gun Jared have given us out of the drawer and set it on the counter in front of me. Before I was able to provide much of a response, he was gone.

For ten days Mia and I were laid up in that terrible motel. I talked to Dom every night. He never called from the same number. We went through pre-paid cell phones like we were big time drug dealers. Whatever it took to stay connected, though.

Dom had been working with some pretty seedy individuals. But had found out a lot of information. The root of all our troubles was, as assumed, the Trans. Similar to what Brian had told us, Lance Tran had been running to the cops about the team. But it did not stop there. His family had connections. And they were mad and out for revenge. Apparently it was not going to stop until every one of us was either dead or behind bars. The guys were working on a way to avoid this inevitable hell.

Those days were painfully boring. We were told to 'lay low'. That meant not to go anywhere. But you could only watch so much daytime television. Especially daytime television in Peru. That was the worst. Sandwiches and microwavable noodles became my livelihood. Of course, I loved those things before this whole fiasco, so I was fine with the consistency. It had been well over a month now since the last heist- maybe around six or seven weeks. I began to lose count. But it seemed like decades ago.

"Do you wanna run down to the corner store with me?" Mia asked as she glanced through the almost empty mini-fridge in the room.

"Sure. Let me just change pants," I told her. The thought of having to get out of basketball shorts and Dom's old tee shirts was not very appealing. But it was probably a good idea to leave the room. I was going stir-crazy.

I grabbed a pair of jeans off the floor. I hadn't even bothered to wear real pants in over a week. I slipped off my shorts and pulled them on. The button just would not seem to go. Fuck! I was in such a crabby mood already. This did not help. I realized that microwave noodles and sandwiches were not the healthiest option but this was ridiculous.

"Fuck!" I finally stated out loud.

"What's wrong?" Mia asked as she glanced over at me. She stood up and walked over.

"We gotta get something better than noodles. I can't even fucking button my pants right now," I stated and stopped. I looked at Mia. She looked like she had dropped fifteen pounds. Her face had gotten so skinny. How did that happen? I glanced over at the mirror. My face looked paler as well. And older. God, all this was definitely aging us way before our time. "Where as you look like you've developed an eating disorder."

She threw up her hands, "gee thanks."

"You know what I mean, girl. What's wrong with these freaking pants," I said as I finally looped the button through the hole.

"Letty, come here," she said as she walked over to the two chairs in the room.

"What?" I eyed her suspiciously before making my way across the room.

"If I asked you to do something for me, would you do it?" she asked sincerely.

This definitely heightened my suspicion. It was never good for people to present you with a loaded question like that.

Would I do anything for Mia? Of course.

Did I want to answer this question? Hell no.

"Depends what you're talkin' about," I finally responded.

Mia took a deep breath before saying, "you have to take a pregnancy test, Letty. It's been, what? Eight, nine weeks since you've had your last period?"

"Maybe even like ten," I told her honestly.

"You just need to find out."

"When you get insanely stressed out, do you have your period?" I asked her bluntly.

She shrugged. "Usually at least a little bit. It may be really light or really heavy, or off by a little bit. But it still comes. And we're sharing a bathroom right now, girl. I know you haven't had it."

I sighed. The terrible question that I had been avoiding for weeks was again peeking up its ugly little head. I was so scared to even attempt to face the question. But here it was. Staring me in the face. And I was being forced to confront it. Mia thought I might be pregnant. Pregnant. What a terrifying word, especially right now. This could not come at a worse time. Why does shit always happen at once? Can't the universe ever just give someone a break?

I pondered for a few more seconds before responding. And even then, I couldn't move my mouth. I was able to force out enough momentum to nod my head. I agreed.

I refused to go with Mia to the store though. I did not want the saleslady to know. I did not want anyone to know. Hell, I did not want to know. I sat on the bed. I thought about pacing. But still was better. So many things should have been running through my head, but it was blank. I was literally thinking about nothing. I was just frozen. Maybe this was what being in shock felt like.

Mia came back in. I know she did not slam the door, but I heard the loudest boom as the door shut. I looked up at her and she at me.

"You ready?" she asked as she put down the bags and grabbed the box.

I swallowed. A huge lump was in my throat. Was I ready? Nope. Not at all. Not even a little bit. But in all fairness I really did have to pee.

I stood up and grabbed the box from her. I didn't speak. I just walked to the bathroom. I pulled down my pants and sat on the toilet. Fuck!

I opened the box. Folded instructions and a long plastic wrapped urine test fell out. I unfolded the instructions and read carefully. I had to pee on it for five seconds. That seemed do-able. Then I had to wait. That seemed very painful. I peeled open the plastic and examined the stick. I saw two open spots. One window was going to determine so much. It was pretty obvious which side you peed on. I took off the cap and stuck it under. I was so nervous. As bad as I had to pee, I just couldn't. I concentrated, really concentrated. Suddenly, the flow started.

It seemed like I peed forever. I was nervous about the placement of the stick so I tried to bend at a very uncomfortable angle to monitor the urine suction. When I was finished I shook it off. I placed the cap back on and looked at the instructions again. Three minutes. Wow, that was a long time.

I pulled up my pants and walked out of the bathroom.

"That took a really long time. Is everything okay?" Mia asked, standing nervously by.

"Guess we'll find out in like two and a half minutes," I told her placing the soiled test on the counter by the sink. I looked over at the clock. 4:57. So, by 5:00 my fate would be determined.

The seconds seemed like years. It was so quiet in the room a pin drop could easily have scared us all.

4:58 the clock changed.

4:59

I was growing more and more nervous with every passing moment. I felt like a giant lump had crawled into the back of my throat and taken up residency. It was close to impossible to swallow. I felt flush and nauseated at the same time.

A hard knock on the door sent my nerves skyrocketing. I looked at Mia. We locked eyes. Who could it possibly be? I was glued to the bed. If the door was going to get answered, it was up to Mia.

She stood up slowly and walked over to the desk. She picked up the gun that Jared had given us and cocked it. Under normal circumstances, seeing Mia approach the door with a gun would probably have sent me laughing. But right now I had no sense of humor.

She peeked in through the peephole and then shot me a grave look.

"Who is it?" I managed to squeak out.

"I can't see."

"Like you can't see anyone out there or you can't see through the peephole?"

"I can't see through the peephole. It's all black."

"Fuck this is the last fucking thing I need right now," I said irritated. Couldn't I just handle one major life crisis at a time? Now I was probably going to get shot by some crazy lunatic and never find out the million-dollar question.

I stood up and walked over to the door. Mia moved out of the way. Another knock pounded on the door. I gazed through the tiny hole. It was high up on the door and I had to stand on my tiptoes. But, as Mia had stated, it appeared completely black.

"Who is it?" I called out, not willing to waste my time with some housekeeper or adolescent prankster just trying to entertain themselves.

"Have to open up and find out," a voice that was clearly being disguised noted from the other end.

Again, Mia and I exchanged a look. Should we chance it? Who knew we were here? Mia looked worried. I probably looked pissed. I glanced over at the clock. 5:01. My eyes immediately darted over to the pregnancy test. I was too far to see the results. It was sitting on the counter, screaming my fate silently and I was over here trying to deal with more drama.

"Hand me the gun," I whispered to Mia. She handled it like it was a nuclear explosive, about to erupt at any second. She passed it over timidly. I accepted it and once again checked the barrel. It was ready to go if need be.

I took the chain off the door and quietly turned the lock. I did not want the body on the other side of the door knowing when the entrance would be cleared. I lowered my finger to the trigger and edged the door open. I pointed the gun at the stranger in the walkway.

"Well it's about bloody time crazy lady," Leon stated revealing himself fully in our doorway.

In unison, Mia and I let out giant sighs of relief.

"Whoa, sorry I didn't call first. But you ain't gotta shoot a brother," Leon said, commenting on the fact that I still had the pistol drawn and pointed at his face.

I lowered it slowly and moved so he could come into the room.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Didn't Dom tell you?" Leon countered, situating himself on the closest bed.

"Obviously not," I said perking my eyebrows. "Or I wouldn't have tried to blow your head off. Why the hell'd you cover the peephole?"

Leon just smiled. "I was just fucking with you guys."

"Hilarious, Leon. I almost had a heart attack thinking you were one of Tran's guys," Mia said as worry still consumed her face.

"I'm sorry," he apologized genuinely after he realized that we were probably not quite to the point where that sort of joke was funny.

I sat the gun back on the table and tried to breath normally again. A unique feeling came over me, as if we had been doing something important before Leon came. Suddenly I realized. My eyes shot over to the counter by the sink. Shit.

"I gotta piss like a racehorse. Where's the bathroom in this place?" he asked, standing up from the bed.

Mia pointed. I noticed he was about to be heading over towards my secret. I had just sat the box casually in the trashcan. He was going to see it. My body reacted before my brain even had time to think. As Leon started walking over towards the bathroom, my entire body did a nosedive towards the sinks. I grabbed the test and hid it behind my back. Though I did not think my actions remained hidden from anyone's view, I had not really done a lot of thinking this through.

"What's that?" Leon asked me smiling.

"What's what?" I acted innocent.

"The 'what' that you did a crappy job of trying to hide behind your back," he smiled wider.

He must have thought, well I don't know what he thought. I sure did not want to disclose my secret to anyone. I did not know what the test said. I felt like it was burning a whole in my hand, as I certainly was not able to look right now. Regardless of what the test said, my reasoning for taking it was not something I wanted to talk to anyone about right now.

"I don't know what you're talking about. You're talking crazy, man," I told him.

He gave me a skeptical look.

"I thought you needed to go to the bathroom," I reminded.

"Something else has caught my attention now," he prodded.

"Why don't you go to the bathroom?" I suggested.

"Cuz I know the second I close that door whatever's behind your back is gonna disappear. And I ain't risking it."

"Leon…" I started but realized I really had nothing to say.

"What's goin' on?" he asked skeptically.

"Nothing," Mia and I said at the same time. He exchanged glances between the two of us, trying to read between the lines.

"Seems like I may have showed up just in time for something. What y'all got like drugs or something up in here?" he asked hopefully.

I couldn't help but chuckle out my response, "nah, nothing like that."

"What then?"

"Why you always gotta be so damn nosey?" I asked him.

"Why you always gotta act like everything's such a fucking mystery?" he retorted.

"Just call her Nancy Drew," Mia piped in from the other side of the room, trying with failure to add some humor and lightness to the conversation.

"Fine then. You don't wanna tell me, I don't wanna know," he said trying to play mad.

"Okay, good," I told him.

"Come on, what the fuck you tryin' to hide?" he pried further, ignoring his angry stance.

I raised my eyebrows at him. He started to turn, as if to see what I had behind my back. I followed suit, turning to counter his movement.

"What is that?" he said. I realized at that point that he had gotten me to turn so that my back was to the mirror over the sinks. He could see what was in my hand by the reflection. Shit. How was I outsmarted by Leon? At least it wasn't Vince, then I'd really feel stupid.

"It's girl stuff, Leon," Mia said, trying to play the female card. Typically boys on team Toretto avoided any 'girl products' like the plague. They refused to buy tampons or pick up birth control pills. Almost as if they could transform into a female via osmosis.

"Girl stuff my ass," he replied huffy.

Without any prior clues, he reached out and grabbed my right arm. That just happened to be connected to the hand that was primarily holding the test. As I felt his hand on my arm I immediately reacted. I used my other arm to grab him and pull him off. He fought with me until we were both on the ground wrestling for the white object in my right hand. I battled with my emotions on whether or not to hit him. I decided against it as he threw me on the ground, switching sides so that I was now on the floor. I pulled my arm back behind me as I staged him off with my left. But it was no use. My left was not my dominant hand and he pulled the test out from under me.

"The fuck is this?" he seemed perplexed.

I attempted to yank it out of his hand but he quickly switched it up and batted me away.

He studied it like a test before his mouth dropped. It was that expression that he shot me that allowed me to realize he knew what he was holding.

"Are you serious?" he asked almost rhetorically. I failed to respond.

He looked at me harder. I felt him peering into my soul and I was uncomfortable. I stood up quickly.

"Fuck off, Le," I said walking away and back towards my bed.

"You're fucking pregnant?" he asked.

Oh my God. What had he just said? Had he read the test? Did he know how to read a test? Was he telling me I was pregnant? Or did he just realize it was a pregnancy test? Oh how I wanted to kill him at this moment. Where was my gun? I looked around.

"What?" Mia jumped and ran over to him. "Are you serious?"

"What do you mean 'am I serious'? Is that not what this is?" he asked looking between us. "It is, right? It's a pregnancy test."

"Yeah, Le, it's a fucking pregnancy test. Okay? And it's fucking none of your business," I told him angrily.

"Letty," Mia said quietly as she peeled the test out of Leon's fingers. They both sat, stunned.

"Letty," Mia said louder. I heard her. I decided not to respond.

"Letty," Mia finally yelled.

"What?" I called back angrily.

"You're pregnant," Mia said blankly.

At that moment I had an out of body experience. My soul literally lifted up out of my body and I saw myself standing there. Standing in a ratty hotel in Peru with Mia and Leon. I saw that deathly plus sign that was inevitably lighting sparks on the pee stick. I hadn't realized it but before I knew it I was sitting. How I got in a sitting position I will never know. Again time lapsed. Mia and Leon were standing by my side. Mia was calling my name.

"Letty, are you okay?" finally her words were entering my consciousness. But I struggled to respond.

I shook my head, no. I was very far from okay.

"So, who's the father," Leon let out lightly. I looked over at him. My fist reflexively balled up and made contact with his jaw. The impact sent him flying off the bed and onto the floor.

He stood up, dazed and rubbing his jaw.

"Fuck," he said. "I was just kidding. Damn."

"Leon that was rude," Mia chastised.  
"I mean, it's Dom, right?" he said. I supposed that he just wanted reassurance but I was beyond caring what anyone else wanted right now.

"Yes it's Dom," Mia answered for me. "Right, Letty?" Her voice sounded confident but had an air of doubt.

I couldn't believe the direction this was taking. "Yes it's fucking, Dom. Jesus Christ, are you two kidding me with that right now?"

"No, no, no of course we knew it was Dom. I was just asking. Because you know, Gavin and everything," Mia spewed.

"Gavin?" Leon questioned suspiciously. "Who's Gavin?"

"Thanks, Mia," I said sarcastically. "What other secrets can you give away? Maybe next you can call up my grandmother and tell her I'm knocked up, or a fugitive. Or maybe even both," I shrugged adding more disdain to my words.

"You're tellin' me that you're pregnant with some other dude's baby?" Leon asked surprised.

"No asshole. I'm not pregnant with _some other dude's baby_. I never slept with any other guy. It's fucking Dom's baby. I'm pregnant with Dom's baby, okay?" I let out. As soon as I spoke the words, I heard them. _I'm pregnant with Dom's baby_. Shit.

TBC

I wasn't going to do a preggo fic but this story has a mind of it's own. Wonder when she will tell Dom and how he will react…..


	36. Chapter 36

"Letty," Mia said with the most ridiculous smiled plastered on her thin face.

I just glared over at her. What the hell was she smiling about?

"You're gonna have a baby," she glorified as if it were wonderful news. "I'm gonna be an aunt. This is so great!"

My mouth fell agape. I was absolutely stunned by the words I was hearing. I could not respond given my overall state of shock.

"Why don't you look happier? This is going to be fine," she responded to me. Was this Mia's very failed attempt at making me feel better? It was absolutely not working.

"How the fuck is this supposed to be fine? I took the test because I was late. It was supposed to give me reassurance that I wasn't pregnant. It didn't give me reassurance. There isn't any fucking reassurance, Mia. I did it so that I'd feel okay. I don't fucking feel okay. What the fuck? What the fuck? What am I supposed to do? This isn't fucking happening? It's not. It's just not. It can't be. Holy Fuck. This, this isn't happening. Oh my God." I knew I was a million miles a minute but I couldn't help myself. I was freaking out. I was losing my grip. I laid my head in my heads and prayed for sweet death to take me over, or for me to wake up out of his hellish nightmare.

"Letty, calm down. Your shaking. Just relax, breath," Mia said, attempting yet again to try and offer me some comfort. Good luck.

I crouched down and lowered my head. I took deep breathes, trying to get a handle on things. Freaking out never helped anything. I had learned that much from this whole debacle the team was in. Ok. If I could just start to breath, normally, then that was a start. I had to start somewhere. I could not just lay on this disgusting motel carpet and hyperventilate myself into oblivion. As much as I wanted to right now. Mia sat down beside me. Leon followed. He had not said much since the 'discovery'.

"When….so how….I mean. Wow," were the only words he was able to muster, not even a complete sentence.

When? How? Yeah, those questions were running through my head too. We all just sat in silence for several minutes. I heard the rain pouring outside. The sky was obviously crying for me.

"Lett, I know that this seems like a terrible time for this to be happening," Mia started, pausing to look at our meager surroundings. "But maybe this is like the one good thing that is supposed to come out of this whole mess. Maybe this is like a good sign."

Oh sweet, precious, naïve Mia.

"Mia I ain't saying that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do here. But you're only right about one thing, in my opinion. This is a terrible time for this to be happening," I explained.

"Nah," Leon chimed in. "I think Mia's right. "The way things have been, the family just keeps breakin' apart. I bet this'll bring everybody back together."

"I don't even know where Dom," I said.

"Mexico," Leon stated plainly.

"When did he go to Mexico?" I asked, surprised. Last I had heard he was still in Columbia.

"This morning."

"Why?"

"Do you know who Sergio Villarreal Barragan is? El Grande?"

"I'd guess he was a big guy. But other than that, I got nothing."

"He worked as a lieutenant for Hector Beltran Layva of the Beltran Leyva Cartel."

"Cartel?"

"Trafficking. Beltran Layva, he was a cop to the attorney general in Mexico in the 90's. Now he has a drug industry with cartels all over Mexico, but have a ton of control over the gulf for shipment," he explained.

"Hm," was whyall I let out.

"Don't you get it? Beltran? Tran," Leon explained.

"What? Are you saying that Tran is actually a Mexican in disguise? Because I gotta say, I ain't buyin' that. He looks pretty Asian to me."

"No, genius. _Tran_ is not their real last name. It's an association. An association with the cartel. This is why Lance's guys caught up to us so soon in Mexico. They're everywhere."

"So, Tran's whole family. They're not even Trans?"

"Nope. They're the main Pacific connection for the cartel."

"Hm," I started, trying to absorb this new information. "Guess Tran's a lot bigger deal than I thought."

Leon laughed sarcastically, "no shit."

"So what does this mean?" I asked, needing some finality.

"This means that we royally pissed off the biggest drug cartel that spans from LA to Columbia. And now their only order of business is to put a bullet in each one of our heads," Leon said seriously.

"And I'm pregnant," I feigned excitement though it was riddled with sarcasm.

I looked over at Mia. Her face resembled mine when she started trying to give me encouragement about the pregnancy. Given the new turn of events, I wasn't sure anyone could pretend that this was not the absolute worst timing in the universe.

"You okay, Mi?" I asked, this time it was my turn to try to comfort a friend.

She shook her head slowly as she thought. A serious expression covered her face. She began to speak quietly, her voice started to raise. "So you're saying that basically these people, these _Trans_, they're everywhere? And all they wanna do is kill us now? Because, why? Jesse didn't give up his car at Race Wars? How can, no."

"It's because Dom wrecked Lance's bike. And because Brian killed Johnny," Leon replied, looking directly into Mia's eyes.

"So why are they going to Mexico? Why aren't they getting as far away from Mexico as possible?" Mia asked impatiently.

"This is what it was all about. To stop running. To fix the problem."

"Fix the problem. What even does that mean? Get hurt? Get killed? Is that how they want to fix this problem?" Mia began trying harder to chock back her tears.

"Why are you here?" I asked Leon.

"Protection," he said bashfully.

"Protection? Dom sent you here to protect us?" I said, holding back laughter. "Seriously?"

"What are you saying? I wouldn't protect you and Mia?" Leon asked, his face showing offense.

I smiled, "I'm sure you'd try."

"Thanks for the credit, baby girl," he huffed.

"You have to tell Dom," Mia said out of the blue. "You have to tell him before he goes and does anything stupid."

"Mia," I said, trying to stop her train of thought. I couldn't control Dom, not ever. This pregnancy wasn't going to do anything to change that. Despite what Mia may hope.

"No, come on, Leon. You have to agree with me on this. He needs to know that she's pregnant before he gets in some shooting war with, well everyone in Mexico it seems."

Leon looked between Mia and me. He turned his head and spoke, "sorry, Let, but I agree with Mia. You should tell him before he makes any real bad choices."

I just found out myself. I wanted to see how I would feel about it before I told him. And now it was just being forced on me? What the hell?

I shook my head. This was not a point I was going to cave on.

"Why? Are you not planning on telling him?" Mia asked concerned.

"Jesus, I just found out like an hour ago. I'd kind of like to have some time to figure things out first."

"What's there to figure out."

"A ton!"

"You're not considering not keeping the baby, are you?" concern showing through in Mia's eyes.

I shrugged. I hadn't really made any decisions about anything. I stood up. I needed some time to think- alone.

"Where are you going?" Leon asked as I reached for the doorknob.

"I don't know. I need some time to think," I responded without looking at either of them.

"You shouldn't go anywhere by yourself. That's why Dom sent me back. I'm supposed to make sure you guys are safe."

"If he wanted to make sure we were safe, why didn't he just come back himself then?" I asked. I hadn't even realized I was thinking this until the words poured from my lips.

I didn't wait for a response. I turned the knob and left the room. I didn't know where I was going, I just started walking. The rain had stopped but it left traces of its presence everywhere. I didn't even bother trying to avoid the puddles. What did that matter at this point?

I kept walking, faster.

Pregnant. Damn. I needed to work out some of the questions.

How? Well that was pretty obvious.

Who? Again, a no-brainer.

Why? I was on birth control. Of course I couldn't remember the last time I had taken it. Guess Mia forgot to toss it in when she was making my escape bag.

When? Geez, they explained ovulation and conception to me when I was in health in high school. Then again at the doctor before I got started on the Pill. But I never paid very close attention. Ovulation started a couple of weeks after you had your period, maybe? But I wasn't sure about that. Assuming that was the correct timeline, if I had my last period about 10 weeks ago, then I got pregnant about 8 weeks ago. Maybe. That's like 2 months. So that was around the beginning of August. So at this rate my life officially would be over around the end of April, beginning of May. Shit. I always hated math. But my hatred had found a new level of contempt.

Where? Where did this wonderful miracle happen…beginning of August. The last week of July we were at Race Wars. So that meant the first week of August we were in Mexico. I remembered when we had sex there. That made me smile. It was hot.

What? That was the last question I could think of. I guess I didn't know what it was yet. When do you even figure that out? Am I going to have to go to the doctor? I hated going to the doctor. Probably the more relevant question, though, was what was I going to do. That was the toughest one.

In the past when I heard people were pregnant, I guess I seemed really nonchalant about the situation. But, now that it was me, I realized what this meant. There was going to be a baby. An actual life. And I didn't have too much time to figure out what I was going to do about that. It was a ticking time bomb. That baby was coming in 6-7 odd months regardless of how ready I was.

I was pretty sure I could never actually go through with an abortion. I understood that everyone had their own reason for doing things. But I loved Dom. Dom loved me. This baby wasn't some horrific crime, it was made by two people who really cared about each other. So I guess that part was figured out. Of course the idea of actually having a baby, scared the living shit out of me.

I looked up and realized I was back at the motel. I walked into the room. Leon was pacing the floor. Mia was on the phone.

"Letty, Jesus," Mia said, dropping the phone and running towards me in a hug. "Where have you been?"

"Walking. Thinking."

"Damnit, Letty, you can't just go off like that. Don't you get it? This isn't a game," Leon said. I don't think I'd ever seen him so upset with me. It was kind of endearing.

"Sorry," I told him sincerely.

He nodded and gave me a hug.

"Are you okay," Mia asked as she led me to the bed.

"Yeah. I'm okay."

"Do you need anything?" Leon asked.

"No. I'm fine. Just because I found out I'm knocked up don't mean y'all gotta be treating me like I'm some grossly ill or injured person."

"Nah, you're not injured. You're gonna get real fat but that's…" Leon started. He stopped when I threw a pillow at him.

"Shut up," I snapped jokingly. "Besides, look who's talking. You certainly hadn't lost any weight since we left LA."

"Just more for the ladies to love," he joked.

I scoffed.

"Are you going to tell Dom?" Mia asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah. But in person. I think we should all go to Mexico," I told her and Leon.

"What? Has this pregnancy made you go nuts? That's like the war zone, the front line right now!" Mia exclaimed.

"That's where our family is. This is a family problem. It doesn't just affect me. Or you. Or Dom. It affects everybody. I want us to all be together and figure out what we need to do," I explained.

"Okay," Mia agreed hesitantly.

"Hm," Leon sighed. "Okay. We can go up there. But we gotta do it before anyone talks to Dom. He's gonna flip shit if he knows I'm bringing y'all up there."

"Thanks, Le," I told him.

"Don't thank me. Just don't let Dom kill me when he realizes how truly stupid this is," Leon said.

"I'll pack your stuff," Mia said to me.

"I can pack my own stuff, girl. You can't be treating me like that."

"Sorry. I just want this to be easy for you."

"There's no way this is going to be easy for any of us," I told her as I started to dig things out of the drawers.

"We'll take a bus to Lima and take a helicopter from there," Leon explained.

"Wait, what about my car?" I asked.

"Seriously? Do you want to go to Mexico or do you want to be with your car? Because we ain't driving there and it's too big to carry on!"

"Well are we going to be able to travel safely to Lima? What about identification for the flight?" Mia asked, always the voice of concern.

"Chill, girl," Leon started. "We'll take a bus to Lima and catch the 'copter from there. Besides, we've got y'all hooked up. Hold on." Leon started to rummage through one of his bags. He pulled out what appeared to be passports. "Meet your new identities."

He handed one to Mia and one to me. I opened it up. There was a picture of me. But that was the only thing I recognized. It was in fact a passport. And it appeared genuine. Ana Lucia Cortez, the new me.

"So I'm from Columbia?" I asked. It wouldn't have been my first choice.

"We're all from Columbia," Leon replied, showing me his passport.

"Why Columbia?" Mia questioned.

"Apparently they are the easiest for O to come by that look legit."

"O?" I wondered.

"Ortiz. Your dad, Let. He goes by O. He's the one who got us these."

"Awesome," I said unenthused as I stuffed it into my bag.

"Is this a safe idea? What with Letty in her condition and all?" Mia queried.

"My condition?" I asked indignantly.

"No it's not safe. That's why I really wanna discourage y'all from making me do this!" Leon explained.

"For starters, quit with the whole 'condition' shit, Mia," I started my rant on the duo. "Secondly, we're going." I turned and looked at Leon again, "if you want me to tell Dom," and then I turned to look at Mia, "and you want everyone to just runaway together then we are going to Mexico. End of story."

We finished the packing in silence.

We started driving to the bus station. I was concerned about my car but Leon said it would mostly likely be all right. 'Most likely' was not my favorite state in which to leave my car. But I was out of options. The three of us made the long journey to Lima piled into an overcrowded, smelly bus. It wasn't exactly a tour bus, to say the least. But it definitely gave me plenty of time to think. Too long, in fact. I couldn't stop thinking. At least when I managed to fall asleep, the thoughts were briefly put on pause. Not long before we reached the airstrip where Leon's helicopter guy was supposed to be waiting, his cell phone rang.

He answered, "yo?"

I could hear the baritone voice on the other end.

"We were just about to give you a call, brother. We're heading your way," he said.

I couldn't make out Dom's response from where I was sitting. But he did not sound very happy.

"I can tell you that it was the last thing I wanted to do. You know how these women are…I know, I know. I'm sorry."

There was a pause.

"He wants to talk to you," Leon said handing me the phone.

I hesitated before accepting the receiver.

"Hello," I said, trying to sound casual.

"What do you think you're doing?" Dom asked angrily.

"Riding through somewhere just outside of Lima, I think. We're making great time."

"You know that's not what I mean. Why are you coming here?"

"Because, I need to," was all I could say.

"You need to? Well I need you and Mia to be safe. And that can't happen if you come here."

"Well I need to know you're safe. Maybe if it's so dangerous, you shouldn't be there either."

"Letty we have a job to do here. Then we're all going to be fine and we can go wherever you want. But that can't happen right now. And I certainly don't want you two coming to Mexico. If I thought it was safe here, I would have asked you guys to come. Instead I sent Leon down to try and help protect you."

"I don't need you to protect me, Dom. I need to talk to you."

He was quiet for a second. "Okay. Talk to me."

"Not like this. Not now."

"What's up? Is something wrong? Are you okay? Is Mia okay?"

Okay…interesting choice of words.

"We're fine, Dom. I just need to talk to you. After we get there and talk, if me and Mia need to leave…we will."

"You're traveling God knows how many miles so that we can talk?" he asked skeptically.

"Yeah," I replied.

"This doesn't all add up."

"Oh don't even start with me on math right now," I said, making a reference he would never figure out.

"Be smart. Watch your backs. I think this is a bad idea but obviously y'all already made the decision and it don't matter what I think."

"It ain't like that. I'll explain when I get there."

"Okay," he resigned, sounding tired and almost defeated.

We arrived at the airstrip and it was eerily dark outside. The sky held a layer of clouds that completely covered any evidence of stars, or the moon. Mia and I stood back while Leon approached a group of young Peruvians gathered around a few small planes.

After a short discussion, Leon waved his arm signaling for Mia and I to approach.

"Letty, Mia," said starting introductions. "This is Felipe. He brought me down here last night. He knows where we need to go."

"Hola," I said to Felipe.

"Hola," he replied, and held out his hand to help Mia inside the plane. I followed as Leon loaded the bags. He sat with Felipe in the cockpit.

"What do you think you're doing, Le?" I asked as he adorned a helmet with a microphone connected with Felipe.

"Flying, baby," he smiled.

"I want off," I said quickly.

"Relax. I'm just kidding. I'm his wing man. It's a long flight and he showed me a few things last night. I'm just working on perfecting my skill."

"Perfecting your skill? Please tell me you aren't going to try to fly this plane," I warned.

"I'm not going to fly the plane. Unless Felipe says I can," he smiled suspiciously. "Now take your seat and buckle up."

"Dios mio, vamos a morir," I said to Mia as I took my seat. (My God, we're all going to die)

"Lo que estás hablando?" Felipe voiced from the front towards Leon and me. (What are you talking about?)

"Nada. No hay que preocuparse," I told him. I sure didn't want anything distracting the only real pilot we had. Or, I hoped he was a real pilot. (Nothing. Don't worry about it)

"Letty, wake up. We're there," Mia said gently nudging me.

"Huh," I said startled. I didn't even realize that I had fallen asleep.

"Get up. We're here. You feeling okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said somewhat annoyed by her constant concern.

I saw Felipe and Leon walking towards a nearby hanger, talking. They were too hard to eavesdrop, unfortunately. I helped Mia get everything out of the plane. The sun was beginning to come up over the horizon. I had no idea what time it was, but I guessed our flight brought us into the wee hours of the morning.

Leon returned and took the bag from Mia.

"What was that about?" I questioned Leon.

"Business."

"Business? Can you be any more vague?" I questioned further, sarcastically.

"Let's just get to the house. We can discuss all the business stuff later. It's not exactly a great idea to just be standing around out here," he warned.

I wanted to object. But decided against it. Leon had been pushed enough recently. He deserved a break from it. Though knowing Dom's reaction, it would probably be a short break.

Dom, Vince, Jesse, and Brian were staying in a small house in Mazatlan, Mexico. It looked fairly harmless, a single story dwelling painted a horrendous shade of yellow. But it was better than the motel. When we pulled up, Dom was standing out on the front porch. It was obvious he was pretty pissed. I could see it in his face from across the driveway.

"Dom," Mia said, jumping out of the car and running to embrace her older brother.

"Mia," he smiled at her, his demeanor changing briefly.

"I've missed you," she returned.  
"Y'all shouldn't have come. It isn't safe here," he told her as I approached.

"Dom. Just be happy to see me. Then we can get into specifics later," she stated.

"I am happy to see you."

"What about me?" I asked walking up to him. "You happy to see me too?"

"I'm always happy to see you, Letty," he kissed my lips. "I just wish it was under different circumstances."

"What do you mean?" I asked, questioning the uniqueness of his word choice. Did he know? Had someone told him when I was away or asleep?

"It's too dangerous for you here."

Oh, was that all? "Danger's my middle name," I joked. He didn't find it funny.

"Hey, man," Leon said, walking by.

"We'll talk about this later," Dom said threateningly to Leon.

"Lay off, okay?" I told Dom. "We made Leon come."

"What you gotta tell me? Why'd you come all this way?" he directed his questioning back to me.

"Um…" I hesitated. "Let's go inside."

TBC

AJ


	37. Chapter 37

Dom's face hardened with skepticism. I made my way past him and inside the house. It was small but was situated on the beach. It had a great view. Mia was already inside, nestled in Brian's arms. I looked at them and couldn't help but smile. I missed having just a simple relationship. Or simpler than my current one.

"Letty," Vince smiled, walking up to me.

"Sup, bro," I greeted him with a hug. From what I could tell looking through his tight undershirt, his arm appeared to be healing but a giant scar was forming. After looking over the rest of him it was clear that he had not managed to find a razor since we left California. He was beginning to look like Wolverine.

"Hey Brian," I called over to him, trying to be polite.

"Hi, Letty," he smiled a wide toothy grin. I glared at Mia. Surely she wouldn't have said anything to him. Surely.

"My turn," Jesse said, coming in for a hug. I smiled and complied.

"How you livin'?" I asked him. I tried not to show weariness in my voice.

"I'm good. How are you? What are y'all doing here?" he asked in response.

"That's what I'd like to know," Dom chimed in from behind.

I turned back to look at Dom. A nervous feeling immediately overtook my body. I felt nauseated, and I did not think it had anything to do with the pregnancy. I was pretty sure it had to do with his potential reaction. How would he take this news? If he took it the same way I did, that was going to suck.

"Can we go somewhere? And talk. Alone," I probed.

Dom motioned his head towards outside, the beach. Interesting choice of locales. That was one way to take a place I always loved and potentially make me forever hate it. But I needed to try to give Dom the benefit of the doubt.

"I'll meet you out there. Where's the bathroom in this palace?"

"Hey, don't be knockin' the vacation house," Jesse stated from across the room.

"Vacation house?" Mia questioned. "What sort of vacation are you boys on?"

"The shitty kind," Brian replied.

"Bathroom's back that way," Dom pointed down a hallway. "Second door on the left."

I nodded and made my way back. I opened the door. It was immediately clear that only boys lived here. The house had only been lived in for a couple of days and it was already pretty disgusting. Mia was going to have her work cut out for her.

I braced my hands on the edge of the sink, head lowered, drawing deep calming breaths. But my respite was short lived. I heard the barely perceptible sound of the door swinging open and looked up into the mirror to find him slowly advancing toward me. I moved as though to turn to face him. But stopped.

"Letty, what is it?" he said, his voice now mirroring that of concern.

My back was still facing him but our gazes locked in the mirror. He halted his advance only when his body was so close we were almost touching.

How was I going to do this? I didn't really have a plan. Perhaps I should have used the travel time to figure out how I was going to spill the beans. Hindsight.

What the hell was I supposed to do? Nothing like adding insult to injury. How could things have gotten even worse? I heard Mia's words echo over and over, like a mantra. _You have to tell him. You have to tell him_. I had to tell him. Maybe I could just write him a nice note, maybe send him a telegram. People could still do that, right? Western Union. Or, maybe a thorough email. Perhaps a voicemail or messenger pigeon. I could not think of any other subtle ways to send someone a message. But no, I had traveled all this way. I had to just do it.

In a second.

"Well…" he pushed harder.

"Give me just a second," I said now turning to him. "I'll meet you outside."

With that he sighed angrily and backed out to give me the requested space. I closed the door quietly behind him. My hands pressed against the door handle, holding it so tightly it was draining the color from my knuckles. I did not know if I was making sure he stayed out or I stayed in. I breathed a few more big breaths. It was now or never.

I knew that I would have to get some balls and just do what I'd been dreading. Up until this point I had used the ever-effective method of 'if you don't talk about it maybe it will go away'. Surprisingly, that had not worked. It hadn't gone away.

I was not going to tell the rest of the team anytime soon- or ever. Though I had a feeling that would be completely impossible.

I made my way out of the bathroom. Dom was on the beach. I walked outside onto the porch. He was sitting in the sand, by the shoreline, with a cooler for company. I left my shoes on the bottom step and made my way out to the sand. Each step towards him got harder and harder. I did not want to do this. Typically, I ran away from things I did not want to do. I could not run away from this one. Nope, it was here to stay.

"Hey," I said, my voice inadvertently breaking.

"Hey," he replied, looking up at me, waiting. His eyes questioned in ways his words did not.

I made my way to sit down in the sand beside him. I noticed, not far off in the distance several kids were playing. I looked over at them and thought. Kids.

They chased each other closer and closer to where Dom and I were sitting. One of the children, dashing directly in front of us, knocked Dom's beer over from where it had been resting in a koozie made of sand.

"Fuck," Dom said angrily. He quickly scooped up his beer before too much liquid escaped.  
"Fucking kids. How's there not some sort of law against this? Don't they got leashes for them? Ugh, just runnin' all over other people's shit."

With that, he lifted up his beer towards his lips.

I thought this was an unfortunate circumstance and setting of events. But, there was no time like the present.  
"Dom, I'm…pregnant," I blurted out before I even knew what I was saying.

I looked over at him. The beer bottle was still pressed to his lips.

"Dom?" I repeated hesitantly.

He tilted the bottle up further.

"Dom?" I asked, yet again, somewhat more agitated.

He continued to tilt up the beer bottle until all of the contents were gone- practically an entire beer. He slowly sat the empty bottle down and reached over to the cooler for another. Still silent, he twisted the cap off and brought the new bottle up to his lips.

"Dom say something," I let out, becoming very annoyed at his lack of response.

After approximately half of that bottle was gone, he lowered the bottle and looked at me.

"Really?" he asked. The feeling behind his tone was impossible to determine.

I nodded slowly.

He let out a long sigh, running his hands over the top of his head. He rubbed his eyes and lowered his head to the sand.

Why wasn't he saying anything? Was he mad? Sad? Furious?

"Come on, you have to say something," I finally said.

"What do you want me to say? I ain't seen you in almost two weeks. Then, out of the blue you travel across countries to come up here and drop this bomb on me and expect me to know exactly what to say. I….ugh," he shrugged.

"Are you mad?" I asked.

"I don't really know what I'm feeling right now."

We both sat in silence for a few minutes. He looked stressed. I felt stressed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," I responded indignantly.

"How do you know?"

I scrunched up my eyebrows and shot him a look portraying the fact that I thought he was an idiot. It was my turn to shrug. "Well, I was late, for starters. And I took a pregnancy test. When it was positive, I kind of took the hint."

"How late?" he asked in an attempt to wrap his head around this situation.

"Um…about two months," I admitted.

"Two months!" he exclaimed angrily. "You've known for two months and you're just deciding to tell me about this now?"

"Hey, quit yelling at me mother fucker! And, no, for your information, I haven't known about it for two months. I have been a little preoccupied with staying out of jail and not getting killed for the past couple of months," I yelled back. But I felt my anger subsiding and my voice evening in an attempt to explain. "I figured it out yesterday, or the day before. I don't even know what day it is. Anyway I have been trying to find a way to tell you. I didn't want to tell you over some prepaid cell phone." One week, eight weeks, ten weeks, now wasn't the time to get into specifics with numbers.

He lowered his head into his hands again.

"Well…" I said, needing something from him.

"That's…"he paused.

I paused too.

"That's…that's great?" There was no emotion to his voice. I still couldn't tell whether he was mad, or just in shock. Or was he being sarcastic?

"What about what you _just_ said? About those kids over there?" I asked knowingly.

"Well…a lot's changed since then," he replied honestly.

"Like what?" I asked annoyed.

"Um…okay. Well…" he was clearly at a loss for words. "So what now?"

I shrugged.

Just then, when the tension was so strong you couldn't even cut it with a chainsaw, a group of obnoxious adolescents gathered nearby. They were playing music and talking/yelling at a volume that was obviously interfering with Dom's thoughts.

"Let's talk about this inside," he said, standing up. I just sat in the sand. He looked over at the adolescents, giving them a pretty intense death stare. But, he didn't approach them. I guess that was a positive. He was focused on this for the moment, so it seemed.

He reached down and offered his hand to help me up. I hesitated, but grabbed it. He pulled me up easily. He reached down with the other hand and grabbed a now empty cooler.

We walked inside the house. I avoided looking at Leon, and passed him. I followed Dom into one of the bedrooms. I was tired of talking. I felt like I'd said enough to last three lifetimes.

"Have you told anybody?" he asked, closing the door to the bedroom.

"Told anybody what?" I asked, walking over to the window. I looked down at the teenagers on the beach. That used to be us.

He just shot me an ignorant glare and glanced down at my stomach, raising his brow.

"Oh um, just Mia. And Leon," I admitted.

"You told Leon and Mia?" he asked, starting to be argumentative again. "How could you tell them before you even told me?"

"You're really surprised about that?" I asked him, not intending to sound like as much of a smart ass as it assuredly came out. "They were sort of there when I found out. It's not like I broadcasted it over the radio or anything."

"How did this even happen?" he asked, placing his head into his hands.

"You need me to draw you a roadmap?"

"Can you, maybe, be serious for a second about this? I need to figure things out."

"You ain't got to pretend. It's not like I'm excited. I'm kind of pissed," I admitted.

He sighed heavily. "No, Letty, it'll be okay," he said rubbing his head.

"Jesus, everybody keeps saying that. How's this gonna be okay?" I said, unable to hide my smart-ass tone at this point.

"Damnit Letty, I'm trying here, okay?" he said exasperated.

"Well, stop," I yelled.

"Stop trying?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Alright, yeah this sucks," he finally confessed.

"Thank you," I said relieved to be getting a straight response out of him.

"And it really couldn't come at a worse time," he continued.

I nodded my head in agreement.

"I mean I don't know if I even ever wanted kids. Now for this to happen this way, right now. Shit. I can't think of a bigger blow…" he continued.

I stopped him. "Okay, I get it. You ain't gotta dwell on how bad this is." I was getting really turned off by the emphasis he was placing on the negatives. It's not like I hadn't done it myself. But I wanted more from him. Or maybe I needed more from him right now.

"Well, come here," he said, reaching his hands out to me. I sat down next to him on the bed. "I mean, what do you want to do?"

I knew what he was asking. What did everyone call it- your options? Those were some shitty options. I wanted to pick D, none of the above. Too bad life isn't really multiple choice. So, instead, I just decided not to answer. In this moment I was wishing I hadn't even told him.

After giving me ample response time he said, "Okay, well we don't have to decide right now. Let's just lay down."

I shook my head. That was no solution. That wouldn't change a thing. I was pretty sure that was how this whole thing started in the first place. I stood up and walked out the door. I heard him calling me but I didn't stop. I kept walking. I grabbed a pair of car keys without caring whose car. I walked outside and pressed the keyless entry, walking over to the car that responded. At this point, the sun was rising high in the sky. I got into the car and cranked the engine. I put it in reverse. I saw Dom coming through the doorway. It didn't matter. The car was already heading backwards. I backed down into the street and hit it into first, quickly into second, third, I was off. I had no idea where I was going or what I was really doing. I had planned on trying to work this out with him. Apparently that was not what I really wanted.

I saw his car following me in the rearview. I didn't want to deal with him right now. I had enough to figure out on my own. I hadn't really taken any time to think about it. I assumed that telling him first would be the right thing to do. I was rethinking this decision now. Maybe I should have worked out what was best for me before I even mentioned it to him. I appreciated his attempt but, really? I hit the spray and left him behind.

As soon as I could no longer see him my mind was starting to clear up a little bit. A baby. That really sucked. What was I supposed to do with a baby? It wasn't the getting fat part that bothered me, it was all that shit after the fat part that I had issues with. I was pretty much the opposite of maternal. And I didn't really see Dominic as the most paternal person. I'd really gotten myself into some shit now. I couldn't come up with anything that provided a good solution.

I had already decided that abortion was out. I just wasn't down with that. But, I was equally less down with having a baby right now.

I drove down the beach; in a completely new town I was totally lost. I didn't even know if I was still in the same remote town we had started in. I didn't care.

I stopped my car and got out. Damn, I loved smelling salt air. I left my shoes in the car, walked over the makeshift dock, and down into the sand. The sand was warm from the sun of the day. I appreciated the way the soft sand felt between my feet as I made my way closer and closer to the shoreline.

I sat in the sand, somewhere between soft and taken away by the tide. The water was cool on my toes and it was the only thing I understood. What do you do when you love a man? Do you have their baby? What if they don't want a baby? Do you not have it for them? For yourself? How far can you go to make someone else happy? How far can you go to make yourself happy? I didn't even know what would make me happy at this point.

Just then, I noticed someone coming up beside me. It was Dom. I guess it wasn't rocket science as to where I would be, especially considering I had really just driven straight. He sat down in the sand beside me but didn't say anything. Neither did I. We probably sat in silence for about ten or fifteen minutes.

"We can handle this," he said.

I didn't respond.

"I know you ain't much of a talker but you can't drop a bomb like this and then refuse to talk about it," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why? Seriously?" he asked sarcastically.

"I don't want to talk about it," I stated.

"Letty, listen, worse shit has happened," he said, trying

"I don't want to have a baby, Dom,"

"So what are you saying?"

"What the hell are we supposed to do with a baby?"

He shrugged. "I don't you buy a, um….crib, right? We can do that." He smiled. I am sure he was trying to change my mood a little bit. I didn't see that happening any time soon though.

"No, that's not it."

"Well why don't you tell me what 'it' is."

"Alright, 'it' is that I don't want to be pregnant. I don't know if I really want to even have this baby. And, I really don't know if I want to raise it. This isn't anything we ever talked about. And, now, I'm pretty sure this isn't what I want."

"Well, what do you want?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. The decision's already made."

"Let, I'm trying to do everything I can right now to…"

"Well, why don't you keep telling me that. Maybe you just tell me how hard it is for _you_. Tell me how hard _you_ are trying and maybe it will change things," I stated.

"That's not what I'm…"

"That's exactly what you're saying." I'm sure he felt that he couldn't win for losing right now. And he was right. I am sure I was handling this wrong. But I had no clue what I was doing, thinking, feeling.

"Well, shit, what the hell do you want me to do?"

"Nothing. I'm blaming you for this whole thing. And, it's not just your fault. But, damn I wish it were."

"Thanks," he laughed sarcastically.

"Well, you asked me to tell you," I admitted.

"Are you saying you're going to….not have it then?"

I got up. I didn't answer. I started walking down the opposite end of the beach.

"Letty," he yelled.

I didn't respond. I acted like I didn't hear him.

"Letty, if you run away it's not going to do jack shit towards fixing this problem," he called out. I just kept walking. Maybe it would.

Responsible. The word kept running through my head. I wanted to chase it out with tequila shots but I didn't figure that was the appropriate move to make at this point. Responsible. I had been responsible. Wasn't that what the pill was all about? I really wanted to kill whoever made the pill and made it bloody ineffective. They should be responsible for this. I guess, well, I knew why this had happened. When we were in Mexico, I hadn't packed it. Mia packed my bags. She knew that I took it, but I guess, amidst all the chaos, that wasn't the first thing on her mind. I couldn't blame her. I didn't take it the entire time we were in Tijuana. I didn't think I'd be having a lot of sex, what with being injured and all. Clearly, I should just stop trying to guess anything about my own life.

I was going to have to go home eventually. It was getting very dark. I knew Dom would be there. With all the craziness in our world right now, this was the last thing we needed to have to figure out. We needed to be focusing on finding Tran's guys and getting back to LA. I turned around and walked back in the other direction, unsure as to how far I had even walked.

I made my way back to the car and put my shoes on. I drove back to the house and his car was in the driveway. I pulled up behind him, parked, and got out. I took a deep breath before making my way into the house. I sat the mystery keys down. The den was full of the team.

"Let, where ya been?" Vince asked over the television set.

I looked around, Dom wasn't in there.

"Where's Dom?" I asked, ignoring Vince's question.

"Bedroom," he replied, refocusing on the television.

I sighed as I pushed the door open. Dom was sitting on the bed. He looked up at me and then looked away. I guessed he was a little ticked off about how I had acted earlier. I couldn't blame him. I had been a little melodramatic.

"I'm sorry," I said, sitting down on the bed and facing him. I crossed my legs and looked over at him. I hated apologizing.

"It's cool. You gotta quit just running off like that when shit hits the fan. You get pissed at every word I say and then you just leave," he honestly replied.

"It's not what you're saying, it's what I'm thinking," I said.

He took his index finger, pointed to the top of my head and said, "Well give me a clue."

"I think I figured out how we got here. It was in Mexico. I didn't have my pills with me the whole time we were down there. So, here we are. And, I really hate it because none of the 'options' are what I want," I told him. Option- what a horrible word to use for this situation. You think of the word option as a very casual word. But, these were life-altering decisions, no matter which one you made.

"I wasn't trying to suggest you not have it when I said that."

"I know. I mean I thought about it, too. But, I couldn't do that."

"I know."

"I'm gonna have it."

He nodded.

"We're gonna have a baby," I said, stoically.

"Yay," he said, completely sarcastically and unenthused.

I couldn't help but smile and laugh. "Oh look at the shenanigans we've gotten ourselves into now."

He smiled back and leaned over and kissed me. "You know it'll be okay, right? In the long run. It'll be fine."

I looked back at him and without even thinking just said, "yeah. I know."

"So…does it feel like a boy?"

"Right now, it feels like food poisoning."

TBC

AJ

Sorry it took so long to update! I promise it won't be this long before another update. I had writers block.


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